Co-host Sunny Hostin of “The View” actually said Thursday that the poor White House intern who tried to take the mic away from CNN correspondent Jim Acosta as he grandstanded during a press conference was the one who did the assaulting.
On Wednesday, Acosta got into yet another one of his narcissistic exchanges with President Trump that became so heated that Trump told him to sit down. When the White House intern came by to do her job by retrieving the mic, Acosta refused to give it up and lightly pushed her arm down. Later, the White House pulled his press credentials.
“President Trump believes in a free press and expects and welcomes tough questions of him and his Administration,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a tweet Wednesday. “We will, however, never tolerate a reporter placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern.”
“Contrary to CNN’s assertions, there is no greater demonstration of the President’s support for a free press than the event he held today,” Sanders continued. “Only they would attack the President for not supporting a free press in the midst of him taking 68 questions from 35 different reporters over the course of 1.5 hours including several from the reporter in question.”
“This conduct is absolutely unacceptable. It is also completely disrespectful to the reporter’s colleagues not to allow them an opportunity to ask a question,” she stated. “President Trump has given the press more access than any President in history.”
Jim Acosta has asserted his innocence and accused the White House of lying. “I didn’t put my hands on her or touch her as they’re alleging. It’s unfortunate the White House is saying this,” Acosta said on CNN Wednesday. “I think I handled myself professionally.”
Here’s a video of the exchange:
As anyone can see, Acosta was behaving unprofessionally for a correspondent; had he been a conservative for Fox News behaving that way in front of an Obama White House intern, the media would have castigated him as a sexist.
However, Sunny Hostin of “The View” is putting all the blame on the White House intern, whose job it was to take the mic away from unruly reporters like Acosta.
“What I saw was a battery, not by Jim Acosta, but by the young White House aide,” Hostin said on the ABC show on Thursday, according to The Hill.
Hostin said she does not blame the intern for the situation, but asserted she should not have tried to take the mic away, even though that is her job and President Trump (her boss) said to Acosta, “That’s enough.”
The Hill reports that Hostin’s remarks sparked “outcry from fellow hosts, particularly Meghan McCain, who said Hostin’s view meant that the aide ‘should be arrested for battery.’ She added she was speaking facetiously.”