CNN’s Acosta says ‘neutrality for sake of neutrality’ doesn’t work in Trump era

CNN’s Jim Acosta writes in his memoir that “neutrality for the sake of neutrality” was ineffective in the era of President Trump, according to excerpts published by The Guardian.

The CNN White House correspondent writes in his book, called “Enemy of the People: A Dangerous Time to Tell the Truth in America,” that the way he confronts Trump and other White House officials “bothers some people” and that he has been guilty of “grandstanding” and “showboating.”

{mosads}Acosta also acknowledges accusations of bias against the Trump administration, writing that “neutrality for the sake of neutrality doesn’t really serve us in the age of Trump.”

Acosta also writes that then-White House aide Hope Hicks called him in February 2017, only weeks after Trump had first called him “fake news,” to pass on the president’s compliments for being “very professional today.” “Jim gets it,” Trump said, according to Hicks.

Acosta speculates that Trump’s diatribes against the media are largely for show, writing that “when he called us ‘fake news’ it was, in his mind, an act,” according to the excerpts.

The book also details Acosta’s side of an event in which his White House “hard pass” was temporarily revoked after a verbal standoff with Trump relating to immigration issues in which the White House accused him of assaulting a young White House staffer attempting to take the microphone from him. Acosta calls the accusation a “disgusting smear,” writing that “everything in my life began to spiral out of control” after his pass was revoked.

Acosta’s book will be released June 11.