CNN's Jim Acosta accused President Trump of holding a "fake news" conference in Poland Thursday after he called on a reporter who was recently considered for a job in the White House.
Isn't it a "fake news conference" to take a question from a reporter who is essentially an ally of the White House? https://t.co/vD7DgAZXIv
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) July 6, 2017
That "ally" was Daily Mail reporter David Martosko, who last month met with the White House to discuss a role on Trump's communications team. He ultimately decided against it because, he said, he has "one of the best jobs in political journalism."
With this context, Acosta clearly thinks Martosko now causes a conflict of interest and should not be permitted to pose questions to the president.
As social media users pointed out, the second question Trump took was from Hallie Jackson of MSNBC, not exactly a friend of the president.
Acosta, who at this point just seems to be looking for any excuse for a fight with Trump, faced this question from former Bush White House Press Secretary after his rant.
Jim - care to guess how many questions I took from reporters who went on to join the Obama WH?? https://t.co/q57Pea4L7S
— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) July 6, 2017
Trump returned the favor for Acosta's criticisms at his joint presser with Polish President Andrzej Duda Thursday, telling the press that CNN has unfortunately been "fake news" for a long time. He and the network are currently at a head over his now infamous tweet over the weekend which shows him body slamming CNN to the ground.