Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 01:54 pm
CNN’s Jim Acosta grilled Trump’s former strategic director of communications for the 2020 campaign for bringing Trump back to DC for a speech.
Video:
.@Acosta stops former Trump campaign director of strategic communication Marc Lotter when he raises questions about the 2020 election, "No, no, no, this was a free and fair election. That's been said repeatedly by conservative Republicans, Trump Republicans." pic.twitter.com/TOy5Bkhi7m
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) July 24, 2022
Acosta started off the interview by asking Marc Lotter, “Marc, I have to start by asking you this why invite Trump back to Washington after he tried to pull off a coup on January 6?”
Lotter responded that Trump was still the leader of the America First movement.
Acosta replied, “It’s like he’s returning to the scene of the crime.”
Jim Acosta tried to get Marc Lotter to answer the basic question again, “There are a lot of Republicans, a lot of trump advisers who will say the former president eviscerated his legacy when he tried to pull off a coup on January 6. So why bring him to Washington? Isn’t there something just wrong about Donald Trump showing up in Washington after what happened on January 6?”
Lotter said that Biden won the election, but then tried to walk it back by adding, We saw the Wisconsin Supreme court overrule saying the use of the ballot boxes was outside of the legislative process and it went too far. There were many questions going on in many states. That does not prove fraud. I am not making that point. There were extraordinary steps that did lead to questions for many people.”
Jim Acosta shut that down, “No, no, no, this was a free and fair election. That’s been said repeatedly by conservative Republicans, trump Republicans who have now lost faith in Donald Trump. I think the key overarching issue here, Marc, why bring Donald Trump to Washington? Why bring him to Washington if he’s still at these rallies, these speeches saying these cockamamy things that he won the election and it was stolen from him, why bring him to the nation’s capitol?”
Jim Acosta showed how reporters should handle interviewing Trump loyalists. Acosta asked the important question over and over again. He would not accept what Lotter was saying as an answer. Each non-answer was met with the central question being asked again.
Acosta didn’t both sides it. He didn’t let Lotter off the hook, and when his guest tried to raise doubts about the fairness of the 2020 election, the CNN anchor shut him down.
Jim Acosta’s interview with Marc Lotter showed that mainstream journalists are capable of interviewing Trump’s allies seriously. The problem with most journalists isn’t skill but having the will to ask critical questions repeatedly.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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