President Donald Trump slapped down Jim Acosta after CNN’s White House activist-reporter asked him about his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Arabia’s Mohammad bin Salman.
The president asserted, “I get along with everybody, except you people, actually. I get along with a lot of people.”
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“What is it with your cosiness with some of these dictators and autocrats at these summits?”
President Trump responds to a question from CNN’s Jim Acosta by saying “I get along with everybody…I get along with President Putin. I get along with Mohammad from Saudi Arabia.” pic.twitter.com/XTzGch646d
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) June 29, 2019
The interaction took place at President Trump’s Japan press conference on Saturday.
“You did seem to be joking there with the Russian president. Are we taking that to be wrong?” Acosta asked. “And what is it with your coziness with some of these dictators and autocrats at these summits? With Mohammad bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, when you were asked about the case of Jamal Khashoggi, you did not respond to that question––were you afraid of offending him on that subject?”
“No, not at all. I don’t really care about offending people,” Trump said. “I sort of thought you’d know that.”
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“You passed up an opportunity –” Acosta began.
“And, by the way, congratulations. I understand you have a book. Is it doing well?” Trump asked.
When Acosta replied that the book is doing well, Trump smirked and asked, “really?”
Following the exchange about the book, President Trump went back to the topic at hand and asserted, “I get along with everybody, except you people, actually. I get along with a lot of people.”
