Jim Acosta And April Ryan Trade Punches In Fight For Top Spot
SOURCE : https://goo.gl/oVw3Wa
In the fight to become number one at the White House press briefings, April Ryan and CNN White House Correspondent Jim Acosta are in a heated battle. The two titans of the anti-President Donald Trump media are pulling no punches.
April Ryan, who is the chief White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks and a CNN contributor, and Jim Acosta are fighting for the top spot in the club of temper tantrum having journalists who harass White House press secretary Sarah Sanders on a daily basis. The battle for who is the bigger baby is too close to call as both made cases for themselves this week.
After having a tough day handling Sanders on Monday, Acosta went to Twitter to whine and to beg his friends in the media to help him. “One way to address the briefing is for reporters to stick together when the press sec cuts somebody off. Ideally we could and should insist on answers if somebody is cut off. We don’t do that as much as we should. Problem is there is so little time and so many pressing q’s,” he wrote.
Acosta had asked Sanders about recent comments made by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani when he said that the president could have shot former FBI Director James Comey in the Oval Office and not be indicted. There are two schools of thought on that statement. There are those Constitutional scholars who say that it is not true and there are others who say that the president’s pardon power is absolute, and he is unindictable while he holds the office of the president.
But whatever you believe in terms of the accuracy of Giuliani’s statement, it is irrelevant to Acosta because he is more concerned about Sanders giving his feelings an ouchy. When Acosta asked her if Giuliani’s comments were appropriate, Sanders said, “You would have to ask Rudy Giuliani about his specific comments,” adding, “Thankfully the president hasn’t done anything wrong, and so we feel comfortable in that.”
As Sanders moved on to take another question from another reporter, Acosta, who seems to be living in a world where the White House press briefings are The Jim Acosta Show, attempted to interrupt. “If I could ask a follow-up question,” Acosta shouted.
“Sorry I’m going to keep going,” Sanders said. “Not today, Jim.” But Acosta complained that it wasn’t fair because other reporters got follow-up questions. “No, they didn’t,” Sanders said. The only thing that was missing was Sanders patting him on the head, handing him a binky, and reading him a story. When it was over, Acosta emerged as the odds-on favorite to become the big baby champion of D.C.
Then on Tuesday, Ryan came out swinging to take the crown back from big Jim. Sanders was explaining to reporters why the president canceled the celebration of the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles after he found out that many of them planned on not attending because they were angry about his stance that players should stand for the National Anthem.
“Is the president aware that this is about police-involved shootings and not about disrespecting the flag?” Ryan shouted. “Is the president aware of that, Sarah?” As Sanders attempted to take a question from another reporter, Ryan persisted.
“There’s an underlying issue and he keeps going on about disrespect of the flag and soldiers,” she continued. “there are black and brown soldiers that fight in the military as well who feel that taking a knee, bringing attention to police-involved shootings is something that this White House should deal with.”
“Is the president aware that taking the knee is about police-involved shootings?” she asked. Sanders explained that the president “has made his position crystal clear on this topic,” but that did not work for Ryan.
“But people are standing up,” Ryan pressed, “so will he deal with the issue of police-involved shootings? And the NFL is now telling people they have to stand. Will the president deal with the issue of police-involved shootings?”
“I’m gonna deal with the issue of addressing your colleague’s question,” Sarah Sanders fired back.
Both competitors have made strong cases for being the bigger whining crybaby, but who will come out on top? The only way to find out is to keep watching the White House press briefings.