Jim Acosta Tells Stephen Colbert: I’m Pushing Back Against Trump Because I Care About This Country

CNN’s Chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta spoke to Stephen Colbert last night about the difficulties facing journalists. The Late Show host quizzed Acosta on his criticism of President Donald Trump and the fact he has become a news story himself.

Acosta recently walked out of a White House press briefing after Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders repeatedly refused to say that the press weren’t the enemy of the people. Colbert asked about Acosta’s actions.

“You know, we’re all fed up with the treatment that we’re receiving and I’m not the only one to speak out about this,” Acosta said.

“When you insult our news organization, when you call us ‘fake news,’ the way I look at it, hey, that’s calling on me for a question,” Acosta explained. “So I am going to push back,” Acosta told Colbert. “I don’t think we do ourselves any good, Stephen, if we shy away from these hard questions. And, you know, my goodness, the way I look at it is—and this is the debate I have with my fellow journalists when we talk about this—what if we just did nothing? Do we just sit back and do nothing in the face of that?”

Colbert wondered if Acosta and other journalists were becoming the story instead of reporting it.

“We’re not supposed to be the story,” Acosta said. “That’s not why I’m out there. You know, I get accused of that from time to time, and my attitude is, listen, I’m allowed to care about this country just as much as anybody else.”