White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders sparred with CNN correspondent Jim Acosta during a press briefing in Washington DC on Thursday, after Acosta asked she state the media is not the enemy of the people.
“It would be a good thing if you were to say right here at this briefing that the press, the people who are gathered in this room right now, doing their jobs everyday asking questions of officials like the ones you brought forward earlier are not the enemy of the people, I think we deserve that,” Acosta said.
In response, Sanders said “repeatedly, the media resorts to personal attacks without any content other than to incite anger. The media has attacked me personally on a number of occasions, including your own network, said I should be harassed as a life sentence.”
Sanders also referenced her treatment at the Correspondents Association event, in which she was heckled by Comedian Michelle Wolf for her appearance, and that as far as she knew, she is the “first press secretary in the history of the United States that has required secret service protection.”
Acosta bit back and again requested that she say the press is not the enemy of the people, as president Trump’s daughter Ivanka had done earlier, but Sanders responded “I’ve addressed my personal feelings. I’m here to speak on behalf of the President; he’s made his comments clear.”