White House counselor Kellyanne Conway hammered CNN’s Jim Acosta during a press gaggle on Tuesday, calling him a “smart ass” who isn’t liked by his colleagues.
The tongue-lashing came after Acosta questioned whether President Trump would speak truthfully during his address from the Oval Office tonight.
“Kelly, can you promise that the president will tell the truth tonight? Will he tell the truth?” Acosta asked Conway, clearly trying to have a “YouTube moment.”
“Yes, Jim, and can you promise that you will?” Conway shot back. “The whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God? Am I allowed to mention God to you?” she asked disdainfully.
Acosta snarked back: “I’m not the one that has the ‘alternative facts’ problem like you do,” angering Conway further.
“Make sure that goes viral,” she scoffed.
“By the way, this is why I’m one of the only people around here who even gives you the time of day,” Conway sneered, while Acosta continued to badger her with his inane question.
“Let me get back in your face because you’re such a smart ass most of the time and I know you want this to go viral,” Conway snapped, closing in for the kill. “A lot of these people don’t like you,” she taunted, gesturing toward the rest of the media.
For the benefit of those not in the know, Conway explained that the “alternative facts” comment for which she was so ridiculed early in the administration referred to “alternative information and additional facts.”
She added that Acosta shouldn’t “put it back in my face” after “all the corrections” CNN has been forced to make in its biased reporting. “I was on your network 25 or 26 times in 2018. I’m one of the last people here who even bother to go on, and the disrespect that you show to me personally — I’ll just look past,” she said.
After Conway said this, Acosta just stammered, “Ma’am, I-I- just asked you the question of whether he’ll be telling the truth tonight…. ”
“And don’t call me ma’am to make it up,” she scolded.
Once she dispatched Acosta, Conway explained why the president had to make his case directly to the American people.
“He needs to cut out the middleman because there’s a lot of misstatement and lies told about him routinely every day,” she said, turning toward Acosta as she made the point about the media’s lies. “He needs to make sure that he can get his message directly to the American people.”
Join the conversation as a VIP Member