Fox News anchor Chris Wallace lamented Thursday that CNN’s chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta "makes it awfully hard to have journalistic solidarity" after the White House suspended his credentials.
In remarks on Fox News’ “The Daily Briefing” – and later posted on YouTube – Wallace asserted, “I think he embarrassed himself” in a noisy clash with President Donald Trump at a press briefing Wednesday.
“First of all, it was more of an argument than it was a question,” Wallace said of the exchange in which Acosta pressed Trump about the migrant caravan heading toward the United States -- and the president insulted him as “rude” and “a terrible person.”
“He was disrespectful to his colleagues in asking repeated questions and, thereby, making it harder for them to get in a question,” Wallace continued. “Then the president of the United States told him to sit down, and he refused, and he kept talking.”
“Look, Barack Obama in effect, declared war on Fox News at one point,” Wallace added. “And interestingly enough, under a different CNN regime, CNN stood with us, and said, ‘Look, if you’re going to try to freeze Fox out, we’re not gonna participate in certain pool events either.’”
"We do have to stick together," Wallace said. "But I gotta say, Jim Acosta makes it awfully hard to have journalistic solidarity on something like this.”
He ended his commentary with a question: “What do the bosses at CNN see as their mission? In this particular case is it to cover the news, or is it to make a scene?”