CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta debated press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on whether or not Democrats “hate” Jewish people during the White House press briefing Monday afternoon.
Acosta’s questions came as a follow-up to ABC News’ Jonathan Karl, who inquired about the report that President Donald Trump made the claim about the Democrats in a speech Friday to donors at Mar-a-Lago.
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“Just to get back to [Karl] and his questions about the president’s comments about Democrats and Jewish people. Isn’t that kind of rhetoric just sort of beneath everybody?” Acosta asked. “Do you think that the president has thought at all going into this 2020 campaign that the rhetoric just needs to be lowered, whether it’s talking about Democrats, the media, immigrants. Or should we just plan on hearing the president use the same kind of language that we heard in 2016 and all through the first couple years of his administration?”
Sanders responded:
Look, I think that the real shame in all of this is that Democrats are perfectly capable of coming together and agreeing on the fact that they’re comfortable ripping babies straight from a mother’s womb or killing a baby after birth, but they have a hard time condemning the type of comments from Congresswoman Omar. I think that is a great shame. The president has been clear on what his position is. Certainly what his support is for the people and community of Israel.
“You’re saying something that’s just patently untrue,” Acosta answered. “Democrats don’t hate Jewish people. That’s just silly. It’s not true.”
WASHINGTON, DC – AUGUST 02: CNN reporter Jim Acosta reports from the briefing room at the White House, on August 2, 2018 in Washington, DC. The administration’s top security officials briefed the media on election interference. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Sanders responded, “I think they should call out their members by name and we’ve made that clear.”
Acosta proceeded to then bring up the KKK incident in Charlottesville, Virginia in August of 2017.
Trump’s comments during the speech in question were made in response to Democratic Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. She questioned if some members of Congress have a “dual loyalty” to the U.S. and Israel last week, just one of many instances that have led some to call her anti-Semitic. (RELATED: Omar Facing More Accusations Of Anti-Semitism)
Those comments sparked condemnation across both sides of the political aisle, for the most part, and inspired a divisive House resolution condemning all types of hate and bigotry.
