CNN's senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta on Monday blasted a White House decision to bar recording equipment from its daily press briefings – saying it makes press secretary Sean Spicer "kinda useless" and allows "evasive answers" to go untaped.
"I don't know why everybody is going along with this," a frustrated Acosta vented to CNN host Brooke Baldwin.
"And it just feels like we're sort of slowly but surely being dragged into what is a new normal in this country, where the president of the United States is allowed to insulate himself from answering hard questions."
Acosta offered his own theory for the recording-equipment ban.
"The White House is refusing to answer those questions on camera or in any kind of fashion where we can record the audio," Acosta said. "My guess is because they want their evasive answers not saved for posterity."
And he also speculated the White House might think its responses to reporters' questions are more palatable when not recorded.
"Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I think that the White House for the United States of America should have these questions answered on camera so we can see what they're saying," he said.
Acosta also railed at Spicer dodging questions, charging, "The White House press secretary is getting to a point, Brooke, where he is just kind of useless."
"If he can't come out and answer the questions, and they're just not going to do this on camera or audio, why are we even having these briefings or these gaggles in the first place?" Acosta asked.
"It's bizarre. I don't know what world we're living in right now."
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