Moment aide tries to grab mic from ‘rude’ reporter
PRESIDENT Trump has long treated the media, not the Democrats, as his real enemy – and he lashed out spectacularly yesterday.
At a 90-minute White House press conference, he boasted about his success in helping Republican senators win their seats as he criss-crossed the country holding last-minute rallies.
He was visibly upset when the media insisted on asking him about aspects of the election that reflected less well on him. Sitting in the front row was CNN’s White House correspondent Jim Acosta, a particular bete noire with whom Mr Trump has a history of testy exchanges.
When Acosta asked the President why he had referred to a caravan of several thousand immigrants heading for the US as an ‘invasion’, Mr Trump wanted to move on but Acosta persisted.
He refused Mr Trump’s order to sit down and Mr Trump moved away from his podium as if he was about to walk out. ‘Honestly, I think you should let me run the country,’ he barked. ‘You run CNN, and if you did it well, your ratings would be higher.’
Refusing to give up, the reporter even wrestled with a female member of White House staff after she tried to take the microphone from him.
That made Mr Trump snap, jabbing his finger towards his interrogator.
‘You are a rude, terrible person,’ he told Acosta. ‘You shouldn’t be working for CNN.’ When a fellow reporter defended Acosta, Mr Trump said: ‘When you report fake news, which CNN does a lot, you are the enemy of the people.’