CNN’s Jim Acosta slams Trump’s ‘fake news’ immigrant lie in New Orleans attack

‘When there’s an act of terrorism in this country, the incoming president should tell the truth to the American people. Isn’t that what the president should do at all times?’ news host asks Trump supporters

Frustrated CNN news host Jim Acosta accused Donald Trump himself Thursday of peddling “fake news” with his repeated lie that the deadly New Orleans truck attacker was an immigrant.

Shamsud Din Jabbar, who was fatally shot by police, was a born-in-the-U.S.A. American citizen and a military veteran.

Yet after Jabbar drove a truck through a crowd of revelers on Bourbon Street in the early hours of New Year’s Day, killing at least 14 people in what the FBI has called an act of terrorism, Trump crowed: “When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true” - which in fact didn’t turn out to be true.

“Here he goes again,” Acosta said of the president-elect amid a heated interview with Neil Chatterjee, who was Trump’s commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in his last administration. “He talks about everybody else being fake news, and he’s the one peddling fake news.”

Chatterjee initially said that Trump’s remarks shouldn’t be taken “literally,” and that his slams against immigrants after the truck attack was not necessarily directedat “this individual,” meaning Jabbar.

“Why shouldn’t you take the president of the United States literally?” Acosta fired back. “Isn’t that sort of a baseline expectation that he should stick to the facts?”

He added: “What he is saying in that Truth Social post is false! ... When there’s an act of terrorism in this country, the incoming president should tell the truth to the American people. Isn’t that what the president should do at all times?”

Chatterjee dodged the question, noting that Trump has been “talking for years about securing the border, “ which had nothing to do with the crime.

Instead of correcting his comments about the New Orleans attack, Trump doubled down on Truth Social Thursday, flatly declaring he was “right about everything.” This “is what happens when you have OPEN BORDERS, with weak, ineffective, and virtually nonexistent leadership,” he added.

The country does not have “open borders,” immigrant crime rates are consistently significantly lower than crime rates of American citizens, and Jabbar was an U.S. citizen.

Trump’s false talking point linked to the New Orleans rampage was repeated by allies other thant Chattejee. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson also suggested Thursday on Fox & Friends that the attack was somehow linked to President Joe Biden’s “wide open border.”