White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to former CNN anchor Jim Acosta on Friday, after the former White House correspondent dismissed her as a ‘bad liar’ and a ‘kid.’
Leavitt dismissed Acosta’s comment during a CPAC interview with Mercedes Schlapp, a former White House communications advisor for President Donald Trump who brought up Acosta and his disappearance from CNN.
‘Since you brought up Jim Acosta – he’s been saying some not so nice things about me online, and I’ve resisted responding but since you brought him up, I’d like to say, “Jim, at least I have a job, Jim.” Okay? Just saying,’ she replied as the audience laughed and applauded.
Acosta lashed out at Leavitt on Wednesday during an interview with the anti-Trump media outlet MeidasTouch, describing former Trump press secretaries Sean Spicer and Sarah Huckabee Sanders as part of an ‘All-Star team of liars.’
He suggested she was only aspiring to be like them, growing more patronizing as he talked about Leavitt, the youngest White House press secretary ever to take the job.
‘She might be on the bench right now, but if she keeps working hard, does her homework, she just might make it onto the team,’ Acosta added.
During her interview, Leavitt encouraged young working women to believe in themselves and ignore naysayers.
‘Don’t let anybody tell you you can’t achieve your dream or cant get to that next step, just believe in yourself because there will be a lot of people who don’t believe in you, who cast doubt about you, who talk bad about you… screw ’em, it doesn’t matter,’ she added.
Leavitt, who had her first child while working on Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, said she found motivation for doing her job for her young son.
‘We have a country to save and I want my son to grow up in a free and patriotic America that we can be proud of and I try to remind myself of that,’ she said.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responds to questions outside the White House
Jim Acosta offers his opinion on White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt
Earlier in the week, Acosta suggested that Leavitt should be featured on Saturday Night Live, as she was such a ‘bad liar.’
‘The skit writes itself,’ he continued, adding, ‘its a sad and sorry state of affairs.’
The former CNN host, who was a combative reporter during President Trump’s first term, left the network after Trump was reelected, and launched his own media show on Substack.
Acosta claimed that Trump’s press secretaries were only performing for Trump as ‘an audience of one’ and that it was ‘all lies.’
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks to reporters at the White House,
‘They’re such bad liars,’ he continued, comparing Leavitt to a child.
‘Anybody has kids out there when your kid is telling you a tall tale and you’re just looking at them like, okay, Johnny, sure, yeah, I believe you,’ he said. ‘And you just walk away saying, what the hell that’s kids, you know, not telling me the truth.’
Acosta was immediately hit by criticism from fans of Leavitt, who reacted to his partisan assessment and mocked him for getting let go by CNN
‘Acosta lost everything at CNN because the network agreed with the people. He’s not a journalist, hes an activist,’ wrote Brandon Johnson on X.
‘Acosta you have less than zero credibility at this point,’ wrote Barbara Hodge.
‘Oh Jim’s a boob who will never stop whining. He’s got a bad case of TDS,’ wrote Kate Johnson on X, referring to ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome.’
”Jim Acosta? Are you kidding? Propaganda,’ wrote Kathryn Herrick on X.
The White House Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt takes place in Washington, D.C.,
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt walks after speaking to the media at the White House
Acosta also chided his former colleagues in the White House press briefing room for not doing more to push back against the Trump administration for banning the Associated Press from events.
The outlet was barred after refusing to recognize Trump’s decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
‘I think the press needs to do a bit more,’ Acosta said. ‘That’s a tough nut to crack … it’s a little like herding cats trying to get everybody in the press corps to act in a uniform fashion,’ he said.
Acosta advised the Associated Press to sue the administration for access.
‘I just don’t think it’s something that should be, you know, should just be tolerated at this point,’ he said.
CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta
CNN’s Jim Acosta speaks to journalists on the North Lawn
Acosta also complained the Trump administration was giving more access to conservative journalists,’ describing them as ‘propaganda outlets and right wing hacks’ who were propping up an ‘aspiring autocrat.’
He described Trump’s action to rename the Gulf of Mexico among the top five ‘dumbest things’ that the president had done and applauded the Associated Press for being ‘serious journalists’ by refusing to go along.
‘I worry it’s a test case. I worry that if they get away with this, they’re going to start doing it to other news organizations, other journalists, and then it’s a slippery slope from there,’ he concluded.
