CNN White House reporter Jim Acosta tried his hand at comedy on air Thursday, joking that President Donald Trump had jumped “the sharpie” in his defense of his claim that Alabama would be hit by Hurricane Dorian.
“White House officials are digging in their heels over President Trump’s use of an altered map to justify his false statements that Hurricane Dorian was posing a threat to the state of Alabama,” Acosta said.
“It was a reality-bending move that appears to jump the sharpie,” the CNN reporter said, a riff on the phrase “Jump the shark.”
“Leaving what may become an indelible mark on the Trump presidency, it was hardly a master stroke,” he continued. “Now, the White House is dragging its feet admitting who just altered the weather map held up by the president in the Oval Office falsely showing Alabama in the path of Hurricane Dorian. Aides refused to say whether it was doctored by the president.”
Trump has been in a continuing spat with the media after he tweeted a warning that Hurricane Dorian may hit Alabama last week. After many in the media corrected him and accused him of spreading false information, the president doubled down, showing a map of the path of the hurricane that had been altered with a sharpie in the Oval Office.
CNN in particular has been hot on the story of the sharpie, leading Trump’s communications director Stephanie Grisham to knock the network back over their mislabeling of Alabama as “Mississippi” in an on-air graphic.
Hi @CNN, I know you guys are busy analyzing lines on a map, but perhaps you use your time to study up on U.S. geography? pic.twitter.com/kVgifHfPK4
— Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) September 5, 2019
The president once again defended himself in a social media post Thursday, tweeting a graphic of the hurricane and writing, “Just as I said, Alabama was originally projected to be hit. The Fake News denies it!”
Just as I said, Alabama was originally projected to be hit. The Fake News denies it! pic.twitter.com/elJ7ROfm2p
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 5, 2019
Trump and Acosta have had an infamously unpleasant relationship. At the last G7 summit, Acosta heckled the president as he was walking off the stage. (RELATED: Jim Acosta’s ‘Quiet’ Book Signing: 30 Books Sold)