Jim Acosta Rips Trump Claim He Can ‘Do Whatever’ He Wants With States: ‘Really Highlighting Some of His Authoritarian Impulses’

CNN White House reporter Jim Acosta contested President Donald Trump’s claim he can do “whatever” he wants with regard to closing down states, chalking that claim up to his “authoritarian impulses.”

Trump continued to claim authority over the power of states to open and close businesses during the coronavirus crisis at his Wednesday briefing, after backing down from his claims of “total authority” just yesterday. “We have the right to do whatever we want,” he said Wednesday regarding his ability to override governors and shut down states, a claim Acosta pointed out simply isn’t true.

“I think what we are seeing this week with the president’s response to the pandemic, it that it is really highlighting some of his authoritarian impulses,” Acosta told Wolf Blitzer on CNN Wednesday evening after the president’s press briefing. “He went back to this idea that he has total authority, that he essentially retreated from yesterday. He was saying… that we have the right, meaning the White House, to do whatever we want. That is false. The White House does not have the right — he doesn’t have the right to do whatever he wants. He can’t order these states, these governors to do what he wants. Obviously if he puts out guidelines that they don’t agree with, they’re not going to follow those guidelines.”

“The president will find out how far his power can go,” Acosta added.

Watch the president’s comments, in response to questioning from CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, below.

President Trump: “We the right to do whatever we want, but we wouldn’t do that.”

Full video here: https://t.co/DrhUyIEvRo pic.twitter.com/VAN6jYGnna

— CSPAN (@cspan) April 15, 2020