CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta fact-checked President Trump on Tuesday after the president claimed he is the “least racist person” in the world.
The president made the claim while speaking to reporters outside of the White House who asked him about his recent comments about Maryland Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings and Al Sharpton, both of which led to allegations that Trump is racist.
“I am the least racist person there is anywhere in the world,” Trump stated. “What I’ve done for African Americans in two and a half years, no president has been able to do anything like it. Unemployment at the lowest level in the history of our country for African Americans.”
Acosta later responded to the president’s claim on Twitter, saying, “Fact check: False.”
Trump to reporters this AM: “I’m the least racist person there is anywhere in the world.” Fact check: False.
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) July 30, 2019
The White House correspondent and the president have had a tenuous relationship for years. Their dislike of one another reached new levels last November when the White House tried to get Acosta’s press pass revoked after an altercation during a press conference with the president.
Acosta’s press pass was ultimately reinstated after the network filed a lawsuit and a judge said that the reporter had not been afforded due process.
