Yesterday, the House voted to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act for an additional six years. It became the subject of debate since it allows intelligence agencies to collect information on Americans communicating with foreigners that are subjects of FISA court orders. The Trump administration supports the measure; the president took to twitter to voice his concerns, specifically if this has anything to do with the Trump dossier. We bring this up because it served as the staging ground from which White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders delivered a zinger to CNN’s Jim Acosta at Thursday’s press briefing.
Acosta wondered if Trump watches Fox And Friends in rival Fox News Network and tweet responses to the segments. Huckabee Sanders delivered an upper cut, saying she’s sure Acosta is disappointed that the president doesn’t watch his network. Acosta chimed in saying he thinks Trump watches CNN as well, which Sanders quipped she doesn’t think so since their ratings would be higher (via Free Beacon):
"I'm sure you're disappointed that he's not watching CNN," Sanders said.
"I think he watches a lot of CNN, if you don't mind me saying," Acosta said.
"I don't think that's true. Your numbers would be higher," Sanders said, receiving an "ohhh" from the rest of the press corps.
"They're actually better than they've been in a long time," Acosta replied, smiling.
Granted, it was not nearly as entertaining as when Acosta and top Trump aide Stephen Miller sparred over the president’s merit-based immigration proposal, which overhauled our green card system.
Acosta and Sanders got into it over the media’s end of the year trip ups, specifically ABC News’ Brian Ross peddling a grossly inaccurate story about Michael Flynn making contact with the Russians during the 2016 election. This was done after Trump had won, which makes it a non-story, as it’s the primary diplomatic work that’s done prior to any incoming administration taking over. Ross was suspended for four weeks without pay. He reportedly did not show up for work when his suspension was lifted.