President Donald Trump, during a heated exchange with CNN's Jim Acosta over critics' claims that he'd manufactured a national emergency at the nation's border, told the CNN correspondent he'd "ask the angel moms" attending his Rose Garden event if they think he made up his claims.
"I'll ask the angel moms," Trump told Acosta, pointing to women who attended his announcement that he'd decided to declare a national emergency in order to allocate funding for a border wall. "What do you think, do you think I'm creating something? Ask these incredible women who lost their daughters and their sons."
One of the women could be heard saying "this is real" in response.
Family members of people who have been killed by undocumented immigrants were invited to attend Trump's Rose Garden briefing and were given the opportunity to hold up posters of their lost loved ones.
Trump also accused Acosta of asking him a "very political question, because you have an agenda. You're CNN; you're fake news. You have an agenda."
Trump's declaration of a national emergency, which will allow for attempts to secure $3 billion in additional funds for a border wall, is likely to face challenges in court.
Trump and Acosta have had issues several times, coming to a head last November when the White House revoked Acosta's press pass after he refused to give up a microphone to an intern. He got the pass back after a judge ruled his rights had been violated.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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