CNN anchor Jim Acosta heralded the incoming Trump administration with an on-air message that the news media is "not the enemy of the people."
During a Thursday CNN segment, the liberal journalist - who became well-known for his outbursts as White House correspondent during Trump's first term - gave a monologue about the importance of the news media to democracy after President Biden warned the "free press is crumbling" in his farewell address.
Acosta seemed to be suggesting that democracy would be under assault by a second Trump term and referred to the "enemy of the people" slam by Trump against the press. Acosta even wrote a poorly received memoir using those words in the title.
"We are not the enemy of the people. We are the defenders of the people. Walter Cronkite once said, 'freedom of the press is not just important to democracy. It is democracy,'" Acosta declared in a clip first shared to X by NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck.
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During the segment, the anchor mentioned a line from Biden's farewell address on Wednesday about threats to the press.
"He warned the free press is crumbling in this country. I would add, that's only if we, the people, let that happen," Acosta said.
The anchor continued, stressing the importance of journalists in protecting the truth.
"Journalists exist to seek the truth, to tell people's stories, to lift up voices that may not be heard otherwise, to shine a light on injustice and to hold the powerful accountable," he said.
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He concluded the bit by pulling out a pink sign that he alleged was given to him by an anti-Trump protester during Trump's first term.
"I want to take a moment to show you something. A woman sent me this sign eight years ago. She carried it here at a march in Washington. She wrote on the back of the sign to me and the press here in D.C., 'you have our support.'"
It appeared he was referring to the far-left Women's March on Washington and across the country that first greeted Trump when he took office in 2017.
The text on the sign read, "I March for Jim Acosta and FREE PRESS."
"To Nora, wherever you are, right back at you. Reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta," he said.
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Acosta is no stranger to anti-Trump grandstanding while on the job. Back when he was CNN's Chief White House Correspondent during the first Trump term, he would routinely spar with the then-president during press conferences.
During one contentious moment at a White House press conference in 2018, Acosta refused to stop asking questions, forcing Trump to tell him "That's enough!"
When a White House intern went up to remove the microphone from the reporter's hand, he refused to give it up, causing brief contact between the two of them. In response, the White House revoked Acosta's press pass. A judge later ruled in favor of CNN, ordering the government to reinstate the pass.
Acosta also quoted from the Statue of Liberty during one briefing room question, ripped Kim Kardashian for meeting with Trump on prison reform as unserious, and dramatically walked out of the briefing room once when then-press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders wouldn't say the press wasn't the enemy of the people.
When asked about Acosta's sign and apparent message to Trump on Thursday, a CNN spokesperson told Fox News Digital, "Jim was speaking about the importance of a free press, something that all journalists and citizens should agree on."
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