Jim Acosta Scathingly Complains ‘Trump Has Cracked The Code’ to ‘Hurt The Press’ Amid CBS Bombshell

Former CNN stars Don Lemon and Jim Acosta ripped CBS over the resignation that rocked the media world on Wednesday, with Acosta complaining that President Donald Trump has “cracked the code” to bending media companies to his will.

Longtime 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens stepped down this week under pressure from higher-ups at CBS in what is being widely criticized as a reaction to Trump.

On Wednesday’s edition of his Substack video podcast The Jim Acosta Show, Acosta and Lemon joined the chorus of denunciation, and Acosta lamented that Trump knows just how to “hurt the press” to get his way:

DON LEMON: Corporations don’t want their business in Washington interfered with or blocked, right? There are mergers, there are acquisitions and all of those things are consolidations and you know, whatever takeover of companies, they don’t want that.

And so they are cozying up to Donald Trump. They are bending the knee. And now CBS may have to settle with Donald Trump if they want this Paramount merger to go through because Donald Trump is suing them for a lot of money.

And that is not this that– for me. You know, for the freedom of speech crowd, that is just total hypocrisy.

JIM ACOSTA: It seems to me Trump has figured out how– he’s figured out how to crack the code of, of how to hurt the press, how to hit the media where it hurts.

And in part, because these companies should never have been allowed to take over these news organizations to begin with and have the kind of sway and influence over these new organizations that they’ve had over the last, what, 20 or 30 years that, Don, you and I have been in this business.

We’ve seen newsrooms get smaller, we’ve seen bureaus get shut down, we’ve see talented journalists, photographers, producers, writers and so on get laid off, all in the name of corporate downsizing and saving a little money here and investor confidence over there and shareholders value, blah, blah blah.

And it just has gotten journalists further and further away from being able to do their damn jobs. And it’s now affected 60 Minutes.

DON LEMON: It’s 60 Minutes, like one of the most trusted, you know, news magazines, if not, it is the most trust that news magazine program, I believe on the air today, uh, in anywhere in, um, in the, in, the world.

Watch above via The Jim Acosta Show.