White House press secretary Sarah Sanders has responded after CNN’s Jim Acosta got heckled yet again by attendees of a Trump rally, this time at President Donald Trump‘s appearance in Tampa last tonight.
As Acosta filed a live report from Tampa, people loudly shouted things like “CNN sucks!” in the background.
At one point Acosta told Wolf Blitzer, “You can hear there is a chorus of boos and other chants from this Trump crowd here… saying things like ‘CNN sucks,’ ‘go home,’ and ‘fake news.’ Wolf, obviously all of things are false. We’re staying right here. We’re going to do our job and report on this rally to all of our viewers tonight.”
President Trump retweeted the video attached below:
WATCH: Supporters of President Trump Chant ‘CNN Sucks’ During Jim Acosta’s Live Spot at Florida Rally pic.twitter.com/2fwQQRVsQf
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) July 31, 2018
This is what’s happening at the Trump rally in Tampa as @Acosta does a live shot. Folks booing, shouting “traitor,” and “you’re a liar.” pic.twitter.com/aUoUF4cwcB
— Ali Vitali (@alivitali) July 31, 2018
Attendees at Trump rally line up behind Jim @Acosta live shot to scream at him “CNN sucks” “tell the truth” and “liar” He calmly spoke to them when he was done pic.twitter.com/bLuZ4ZpfiB
— Emily Goodin (@Emilylgoodin) July 31, 2018
Trump supporters share handshakes and selfies with @CNN’s @Acosta after booing him. @wusf #TRUMPTAMPA pic.twitter.com/Gb7j6X3HiE
— Molly Urnek (@MollyUrnek) July 31, 2018
During today’s White House press briefing, Sarah Huckabee Sanders got in a fiery clash with a reporter over the incident.
The Daily Mail‘s David Martosko first asked about the ‘fringe groups’ that were spotted at the Tampa rally before asking, “Is the White House willing to say right now, in view of what happened to one of our TV colleagues last night, that it is wrong for his most vocal supporters to be menacing towards journalists doing their jobs in a situation like that or any situation?”
Sanders said Trump “condemns and denounces any group that would incite violence,” but instead of addressing the behavior of the rallygoers last night specifically, she went on to talk about the media’s responsibility — which included a tangent about Osama bin Laden‘s phone.
Martosko returned to the subject at hand, firing back, “No one was being violent in terms of hitting anybody and no broadcaster was broadcasting state secrets. They were trying to do stand-ups at a public rally and you had people trying to yell over them preventing them from doing their jobs and yelling that their network sucks on live TV. Does the White House support that or not?”
Sanders reiterated that the White House supports both a free press and freedom of speech.
2 Responses
Apparently for some people, the first amendment takes a back seat to the second.
Send this nutjob lunatic to a dream vacation in Venezuela for 3 months, then lets hear what he has to say