During the Tuesday evening edition of his prime-time show, Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity spent almost nine minutes hammering CNN correspondent Jim Acosta, who was “desperately trying to get back into the White House” after his “hard pass” was taken away last week with the stakes soaring with CNN's lawsuit leveled Tuesday to try and get Acosta's pass back.
However, Hannity zeroed in on what he called Acosta's “biggest lie,” that “for more than two decades,” he has been “widely respected for his diligence and independence.”
The FNC host stated:
Jim Acosta is a lot of things. He is not a fair, balanced, independent journalist. [H]e is a far left, grandstanding, sycophant, left-winger capitalizing on his blatant anti-Trump bias. And his conduct inside the White House has been frankly, a lot of times anything but professional.
“And by the way,” Hannity noted, “the President answered his question. How many times does the President of the United States need to tell someone, a fame-seeking reporter, 'that's enough, that's enough?'”
Nevertheless, “CNN still has access to the White House. Acosta is still free to spew his anti-Trump hatred anywhere he wants, just not inside the walls of the White House,” the prime-time host added.
Turning his attention to the lawsuit that was filed on Tuesday, Hannity said the document “laughably claims that Acosta's constitutional rights have been violated.”
After giving his take on the microphone grabbing incident on November 7 between Acosta and what was reported to have been a White House intern, the host then pointed out his favorite false claim in the document: which asserted that “Acosta has been a journalist.…for more than two decades and is widely respected for his diligence and independence.”
“That’s the biggest lie,” Hannity added before noting that “Jim Acosta's coverage of President Obama was actually a little different. Take for example this glowing coverage of Obama at his 2012 inauguration.”
At the time, the CNN correspondent stated during the inaugural parade:
Obviously, this is the moment that everybody is waiting for. On Inauguration Day, the President and the first lady stepped out of their limo and walked down Pennsylvania Avenue, you know? I feel like I should pinch myself right now....I can't believe I have this vantage point of history in the making.
“Anyway, Acosta's overwhelming bias, it's not shocking,” Hannity continued. “In fact, he's pretty much toeing the company line at ‘Fake News’ CNN. For eight long years, they just worshiped Barack Obama, they loved the Clintons.”
“Now, CNN claims to be facts first but in reality, they put their hatred for Donald Trump before anything else. Every second, every minute, every hour, every day, pretty much.”
The host then quoted fellow conservative radio personality Mark Levin:
You understand that there is nothing in the Constitution that compels the President to hold a Presidential press conference, period? There's nothing in the Constitution that compels the President to call on anyone from CNN, let alone Jim Acosta. Period! And Acosta does not have a constitutional right to disrupt the press conference and CNN doesn't either.
Hannity concluded by stating: “And as per usual, CNN is all bark, no facts.”
