‘This is not news’: Acosta in hot seat for pathetic attempt to ‘divide’ country and smear Trump

CNN’s Jim Acosta is under fire again for an attempt to attack President Trump that critics say only serves to “divide” the country.

Soon after the CNN chief White House correspondent was slammed as a hypocrite for claiming Trump’s Oval Office address on the coronavirus crisis was “smacking of xenophobia,” Acosta earned fresh rebukes for an “idiotic” report aimed at making the president look bad.

(Image: CNN screenshot)

But Acosta’s attempt to smear the president with his story headlined, “Source: Trump is concerned about coming into contact with people infected with coronavirus,” backfired with a major backlash.

“A source close to Donald Trump said the President is telling people close to him that he is indeed concerned about coming into contact with people who have contracted the coronavirus, including the Brazilian official who tested positive after coming face-to-face with Trump at Mar-a-Lago,” Acosta began his report.

He cited a single source “close to” the president who said Trump is “very concerned about all the people he met who have it, including the Brazilian,” referring to Fabio Wajngarten, the press secretary for Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

Wajngarten tested positive for coronavirus on Thursday, much to the delight of the left which celebrated the thought of the president possibly becoming infected. Reports that Bolsonaro had also tested positive were refuted by his son, Eduardo, who told Fox News the earlier reports were not correct.

Of course, the anonymous source Acosta quoted did not indicate whether the president was “very concerned” for himself or for others, but it did not stop Acosta or his network from repeating the “scoop” which only earned him more criticism.

“This is the most idiotic thing I’ve seen all week. And this week that’s saying something,” Media Research Center vice president Dan Gainor told Fox News.

“Of course, ‘Trump is concerned about coming into contact with people infected with coronavirus.’ We all are. And we’re all supposed to be. That’s how you stop a virus, by being concerned about who you interact with and taking precautions,” he said.

“I know Jim Acosta hates Trump. But this is even stupid for one of the most ridiculous figures in the history of journalism,” Gainor told Fox News. “What’s amazing is Acosta isn’t even good at trolling Trump. All he does is embarrass CNN and further degrade the news industry.”

“CNN is trying to hurt Trump and divide our country in a time of national crisis,” he added.

“Acosta’s story “clearly falls into the category of ‘this is not news,’” DePauw University professor and media critic Jeffrey McCall told Fox News.

“That CNN and its White House correspondent want to make a big deal out of a normal concern is just more indication of their wide-ranging agenda to pester the Trump administration,” he said.

“Any sensible person would prefer to avoid the virus, so reporting that Trump is concerned is really a ‘so what?’ moment journalistically,” McCall added. “Using an unnamed source to leak this story when there are plenty of on-the-record sources available to the media to discuss the matter is also curious. Given the many other important aspects of the COVID-19 situation that need attention, this comes off as a real journalistic tangent and waste of time.”

Acosta’s latest example of his and CNN’s anti-Trump bias followed on the heels of his remarks following the president’s address, apparently pushing China’s conspiracy theory that the coronavirus did not originate there.

“Now, why the president would go as far to describe it as a foreign virus, that is something we’ll also be asking questions about,” he said, adding that Trump is “going to come across to a lot of Americans as smacking of xenophobia.”

Acosta was raked over the coals for his hypocrisy then, and was blasted afresh on Friday with his single-sourced report.

MRC director Tom Graham told Fox News the CNN story headline could just have been: “EVERYONE is concerned about coming into contact with people infected with coronavirus.”

DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW

Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!

Success! Thank you for donating. Please share BPR content to help combat the lies.
Frieda Powers

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

PLEASE JOIN OUR NEW COMMENT SYSTEM! We love hearing from our readers and invite you to join us for feedback and great conversation. If you've commented with us before, we'll need you to re-input your email address for this. The public will not see it and we do not share it.

Latest Articles