In an Atlantic piece examining the direction the press will go in following the end of Trump’s first term, Acosta — who made a name for himself over the past four years by engaging in highly public spats with the commander-in-chief and asking what Trump once described as “nasty, snarky” questions — admitted that he will not approach a Biden administration with the same fervor.
“I don’t think the press should be trying to whip up the Biden presidency and turn it into must-see TV in a contrived way,” he said in what some consider an astonishing admission given Acosta’s propensity to turn Q&A’s with Trump into a live spectacle, as Breitbart News has documented over the years. One of the most memorable exchanges occurred early in 2017, with then-President-elect Trump calling CNN “terrible” and refusing to give Acosta a question by telling him, “You are fake news.” The exchange coincided with BuzzFeed and CNN reporting of an unverified dossier purportedly connecting Trump to Russia — a theory that has been thoroughly debunked:
“If that sounds like a double standard, Acosta told me it’s not partisan—it’s a matter of professional solidarity,” the Atlantic reported:
In his view, Trump’s campaign to discredit the press has constituted a “nonstop national emergency,” one that required a defiant response. “If being at the White House is not an experience that might merit hazard pay,” he said, “then perhaps it is going to be approached differently.”
CNN reporter Daniel Dale, widely known for “fact-checking” the president, also admitted that his day-to-day will likely change with the incoming administration. He has already determined that “it will not be a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week job to fact-check Biden.”
