White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and CNN hack job Jim Acosta wrangled during Thursday’s press briefing. Sanders tore into Acosta for constantly interrupting her and whining about petty problems.
“I certainly would reject the idea that the president or this administration has halted freedom of the press,” Sanders said at the start of the exchange.
Acosta adopted a fiery tone and threw out a question about Dr. Ronny Jackson, the Trump administration nominee for secretary of Veteran Affairs.
“Yesterday, the president suggested that Dr. Jackson does not have the experience to run the Department of Veterans Affairs, is that a fair assessment?” Acosta asked.
During a press conference, Trump admitted that his nominee didn’t have tons of experience but added: “And as far as experience is concerned, the Veterans Administration – which is approximately 13 million people – is so big, you could run the biggest hospital system in the world and it’s small time compared to the Veterans Administration… So nobody has the experience.”
Acosta ignored Trump’s intent and focused on the words that suggested Jackson lacked experience. Acosta deliberately tried to stir up trouble for no reason.
“If he didn’t think he had the experience, he wouldn’t have nominated him,” Sanders said of Jackson.
“He’s a highly qualified, highly skilled individual and if he didn’t think he was capable of doing the job he wouldn’t have announced his nomination in the first place.”
Sanders argument was unanswerable, so Acosta switched tactics. “Since she brought up being taken out of context, it seems to be a press-related question, are you trying to say that this administration is a champion of a free press?” he asked.
“And I think that those things should go hand and hand. And there’s a certain responsibility by the press to report accurate information,” Sanders shot back.
“I think a number of people in this room do that every single day, they do their very best to provide fair and accurate information… And a lot of times taking your questions in a tone that is completely unnecessary, unneeded and frankly doesn’t help further the conversation or help the American people get any more information in a better way, which is your job and my job, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
Acosta’s combativeness doesn’t help anyone but himself. He might be feeding off the attention but CNN’s viewers aren’t being served.
Sanders isn’t going to fall into the left’s trap. She won’t be baited into something silly.
https://youtu.be/BswhfLdYBTE
(Source: Daily Mail)