CNN's Jim Acosta fumes after another off-camera briefing: 'This is not how we do things in this country'

(Image credit: Screenshot/Twitter/CNN)

published 19 June 2017

After yet another off-camera White House press briefing Monday, CNN senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta argued that White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer is "getting to a point ... where he's just kind of useless." "If he can't come out and answer the questions and they're just not going to do this on-camera or audio, why are we even having these briefings or these gaggles in the first place?" Acosta asked Monday on CNN. Acosta's best guess was that maybe the White House doesn't want "their evasive answers ... saved for posterity."

Acosta questioned why reporters are even "going along with this," as these off-camera briefings are not only "pointless," but they're also not "how we do things in this country." "It just feels like we're slowly but surely being dragged into what is a new normal in this country where the president of the United States is allowed to insulate himself from answering hard questions," Acosta said, accusing the White House of "stonewalling" reporters.