CNN’s Jim Acosta explained Sunday why he recently shouted a question at President Trump from across a crowded room, but what he didn’t say was much more telling.
WATCH:
During an event on Friday, Acosta asked the president if he would stop calling the press the “enemy of the people” after the Capital Gazette shooting. However, the president had very little chance of hearing his question because Acosta was standing at the back of a very large crowd. Others in the audience were clearly annoyed by Acosta’s antics and even turned around to shush him. (RELATED: CNN’s Jim Acosta Obnoxiously Yells At Trump During Speech — Gets Shushed By People In The Audience)
Acosta appeared on CNN’s “Reliable Sources” on Sunday to explain why he shouted the question at the president.
“When you’re at the back of the room like you were on Friday, and you shout a question to Trump and he probably can’t even hear it, isn’t it true that you’re kind of doing that just to get attention?” host Brian Stelter asked.
“Isn’t that part of what you’re doing?” Stelter added.
Acosta dodged Stelter’s question entirely and instead chided people for not understanding the “process” that goes into asking questions at live events.
“Well, uh, on Friday when I was shouting that question I thought, first of all, he keeps calling us the enemy of the people, you know, someone ought to ask him after what happened in Annapolis, ‘are you going to continue to call us the enemy of the people?'” Acosta rambled.
Acosta claimed that at the end of the event Trump was walking toward him and he “thought there was a chance to perhaps shout a question to him.”
Stelter followed up, insisting, “there’s a perception that you [shout questions] to get attention for yourself.”
“People don’t understand there’s a process to it and typically we adhere to that process,” Acosta replied, still side-stepping whether or not he shouts questions for attention.