CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta complained Thursday that celebrity Kim Kardashian “shouldn’t be here” at the White House to discuss prison reform, saying it reflected “a lack of seriousness” in the administration.
Acosta made his remarks during a panel discussion with host Brooke Baldwin. He also criticized the White House for commenting on the double standard exemplified by ABC News chief Bob Iger’s apology to former Barack Obama aide Valerie Jarrett over Roseanne Barr’s racist tweet, rather than on the racism in the tweet itself.
.@acosta going off just now on @KimKardashian being at the White House: “She shouldn’t be here talking about prison reform.” pic.twitter.com/5i1ZsXl3jh
— David Rutz (@DavidRutz) May 30, 2018
ACOSTA: The president had other things to do, and yet here he comes out today and starts tweeting about Roseanne Barr. It just gets to the lack of seriousness.
BALDWIN: (laughs)
ACOSTA: And forget about the fact that Kim Kardashian is here at the white house today. And what planet that is anything resembling normal, because it’s not. She shouldn’t be here talking about prison reform. It’s very nice that she is here, but that’s not a serious thing to have happened here at the White House. But really that pales in comparison, that level of seriousness pales in comparison to what the president does when he weighs in on the Roseanne Barr tweet, fails to condemn the racism at the heart of her remarks, and then having the White House press secretary coming out here …
Acosta has clashed repeatedly with the Trump White House, and President Trump has referred to him as “very fake news.”
He also mocked the Obama White House in 2015 for arranging interviews between the president and YouTube celebrities.
Update: However, as HotAir.com’s John Sexton points out, Acosta eagerly promoted celebrity John Legend’s visit to the White House in 2015 to discuss exactly the same issue that Kardashian discussed — namely, prison reform.
After #WHCD tune in for a must see interview with the great @johnlegend who joins us this Sunday on @CNNsotu pic.twitter.com/EtTsIc3IOT
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) April 25, 2015
Artist @johnlegend to @CNNsotu – “I’m going to push the president to get more involved in criminal justice reform.”
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) April 26, 2015
It’s personal – @johnlegend on issue of mass incarceration: “I could have been one of them.” @CNNsotu
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) April 26, 2015
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He was named to Forward’s 50 “most influential” Jews in 2017. He is the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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