Fox News host Chris Wallace on Wednesday chided Jim Acosta’s behavior during President Trump’s press conference earlier in the afternoon, saying the CNN chief White House correspondent “embarrassed himself.”
The “Fox News Sunday” host weighed in after Acosta sparred with Trump over the president’s portrayal of the Central American migrant caravan as an “invasion” heading toward the southern U.S. border, leading to a tense exchange.
“CNN should be ashamed of themselves having you work for them. You are a rude, terrible person,” Trump scolded Acosta.{mosads}
“You should not be working for CNN,” he continued. “The way you treat [White House press secretary] Sarah [Huckabee] Sanders is horrible. And the way you treat other people is horrible. You shouldn’t treat people that way.”
When a White House aide attempted to obtain the microphone shared by reporters to ask questions, Acosta continued to ask the president questions.
“It was classic Trump, and you saw all the notes that he can play,” Wallace said on Fox when asked about Trump’s pushback toward Acosta.
“He was combative, at times. He got into a fight with Jim Acosta of CNN. I have to say, I thought Acosta’s behavior was shameful,” Wallace continued.
“Most of the people there were serious reporters asking serious questions. But Jim Acosta, I thought, embarrassed himself today,” Wallace added later.
Acosta spoke of the confrontation with the president later Wednesday afternoon on CNN by evoking former first lady Michelle Obama’s signature slogan, “When they go low, we go high.”
“When they go low we keep doing our jobs,” Acosta told anchor Jake Tapper.
“He seems to be unaware of the fact that his immigration rhetoric and his rhetoric on many levels was just turning off a lot of those suburban swing district voters,” Acosta added later of Trump.