Hannity: If Anyone Ever ‘Dares Lay a Hand’ on Jim Acosta, I Will Fight in His Defense
Sean Hannity has made it clear he has serious disdain for CNN, especially the network’s chief White House reporter Jim Acosta, but he insisted last night that he condemns any physical threats to members of the media — Acosta included.
The Fox News host led his Wednesday show with his usual slams against “destroy-Trump media,” and he called Acosta one of its “worst offenders.” This came a day after Hannity suggested Acosta deserved the harassment he had to deal with when he was in Tampa, Florida to cover the president’s rally there this week.
Hannity highlighted a recent tweet from Acosta in which the reporter expressed concern that Trump’s anti-media hostility would eventually lead to violence.
Just a sample of the sad scene we faced at the Trump rally in Tampa. I’m very worried that the hostility whipped up by Trump and some in conservative media will result in somebody getting hurt. We should not treat our fellow Americans this way. The press is not the enemy. pic.twitter.com/IhSRw5Ui3R
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) August 1, 2018
To Acosta, Hannity offered this statement in response:
“Let me say this clearly and loudly. I want every journalist in this country, everyone, I don’t care who you work for, to be safe. And I will tell you right now, I will be the first person to come to your defense if I’m there and anyone ever dares lay a hand on you. If I was standing there, if I see it happen, I will be the first person to jump in and fight on your behalf. Physical violence is never acceptable to me, nor is it acceptable to the conservatives I know and respect. And let me also be clear, if you are a conservative, and by the way, you ever threaten anyone, you are not a friend of mine, you are not a friend of this program and by the way — or the conservative movement of which I’m just a small part of.”
Hannity continued the segment by calling out Acosta and CNN while insisting the “fake news” chants are about “telling the truth” to the media, rather than advocating violence. The Fox News host also accused the press of being more outraged about what happened in Tampa than the recent incidents of conservatives getting harassed in public.
If you thought this might be the start of a détente, however, I’m afraid you would be mistaken.
Acosta blasted Hannity last night by calling him “a propagandist for profit” who’s “injecting poison into the nation’s political bloodstream.”
Hannity is a propagandist for profit, peddling lies every night. He says he’s just a talk show host, not a journalist. But he’s injecting poison into the nation’s political bloodstream warping public attitudes about the press. I’m confident in the long run the truth will prevail.
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) August 2, 2018
Obviously, there was no way Hannity was going to let that go:
Jimmy @Acosta sorry your precious feelings are hurt & that people see through your lying bullshit for what it is. FAKE NEWS. #CNNSUCKS
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) August 2, 2018
Watch above, via Fox News.
[Image via screengrab]
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