Jim Acosta hit with brutal backlash after ripping into ‘kid’ Karoline Leavitt on anti-Trump podcast
Anti-Trump former CNN anchor Jim Acosta lashed out at White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday, comparing her to a child that was a ‘bad liar.’
Acosta described former Trump press secretaries Sean Spicer and Sarah Huckabee Sanders as part of an ‘All-Star team of liars’ during an interview on the left-leaning MeidasTouch podcast, and said Leavitt was only aspiring to be like them.
He grew more patronizing as he talked about Leavitt, the youngest White House press secretary ever to take the job.
‘She might be on the bench right now, but if she keeps working hard, does her homework, she just might make it onto the team,’ he said.
Acosta suggested that Leavitt should be featured on Saturday Night Live, as she was such a ‘bad liar.’
‘The skit writes itself,’ he continued, adding, ‘its a sad and sorry state of affairs.’
The former CNN host, who was a combative reporter during President Trump’s first term, left the network after Trump was reelected, and launched his own media show on Substack.
Acosta claimed that Trump’s press secretaries were only performing for Trump as ‘an audience of one’ and that it was ‘all lies.’
Jim Acosta offers his opinion on White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks to reporters at the White House,
‘They’re such bad liars,’ he continued, comparing Leavitt to a child.
‘Anybody has kids out there when your kid is telling you a tall tale and you’re just looking at them like, okay, Johnny, sure, yeah, I believe you,’ he said. ‘And you just walk away saying, what the hell that’s kids, you know, not telling me the truth.’
The MeidasTouch podcast is a left leaning political podcast that has become a prominent place for Trump opposition since he won reelection.
Acosta was immediately hit by criticism from fans of Leavitt, who reacted to his partisan assessment and mocked him for getting let go by CNN
‘Acosta lost everything at CNN because the network agreed with the people. He’s not a journalist, hes an activist,’ wrote Brandon Johnson on X.
‘Acosta you have less than zero credibility at this point,’ wrote Barbara Hodge.
‘Oh Jim’s a boob who will never stop whining. He’s got a bad case of TDS,’ wrote Kate Johnson on X, referring to ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome.’
”Jim Acosta? Are you kidding? Propaganda,’ wrote Kathryn Herrick on X.
The White House Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt takes place in Washington, D.C.,
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt walks after speaking to the media at the White House
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Acosta also chided his former colleagues in the White House press briefing room for not doing more to push back against the Trump administration for banning the Associated Press from events.
The outlet was barred after refusing to recognize Trump’s decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
‘I think the press needs to do a bit more,’ Acosta said. ‘That’s a tough nut to crack … it’s a little like herding cats trying to get everybody in the press corps to act in a uniform fashion,’ he said.
Acosta advised the Associated Press to sue the administration for access.
‘I just don’t think it’s something that should be, you know, should just be tolerated at this point,’ he said.
CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta
CNN’s Jim Acosta speaks to journalists on the North Lawn
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Acosta also complained the Trump administration was giving more access to conservative journalists,’ describing them as ‘propaganda outlets and right wing hacks’ who were propping up an ‘aspiring autocrat.’
He described Trump’s action to rename the Gulf of Mexico among the top five ‘dumbest things’ that the president had done and applauded the Associated Press for being ‘serious journalists’ by refusing to go along.
‘I worry it’s a test case. I worry that if they get away with this, they’re going to start doing it to other news organizations, other journalists, and then it’s a slippery slope from there,’ he concluded.
