Byron Donalds schools gaslighting Jim Acosta in heated battle over the

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U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) schooled CNN’s Jim Acosta in a fiery debate about comments made by former President Donald Trump.

The Florida Republican at times battled to get an answer in while appearing on CNN Tuesday, finally calling out Acosta for his interruptions as they sparred over Trump calling California Democrats Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff the “enemy from within.”

“I know that Adam Schiff, when he was chairman of the Intelligence Committee, was leaking information to the press that was classified information, supposed to be held in the SCIF. This is the reason why then-Speaker [Kevin] McCarthy kicked Adam Schiff off of the Intelligence Committee because he abused his purposes for political reasons,” Donalds told Acosta when asked if he agreed with Trump’s assessment of the lawmakers.

(Video Credit: CNN)

Donalds dropped a truth bomb on the CNN host, reminding that the Republican presidential nominee was speaking of rioting when he made the remarks.

“Would you go along with them [Schiff and Pelosi] being rounded up? Would you go along with them being arrested?” Acosta pressed.

“Absolutely not. And listen, and let’s be very clear: Donald Trump didn’t even say that,” the congressman said.

“He said he was concerned, he said that, yes, you have somebody like Adam Schiff who would use his position as chairman of the Intel Committee, who has access to information that even members of Congress don’t have access to, and to leak that into the press. Remember what Adam Schiff did in 2016; he was laundering phony intelligence into our political system. He did that in 2016, 2017, 2018. That is very dangerous in my view,” Donalds continued.

“It’s very dangerous to use your position as the chairman of intel to launder phony information into the body politic, saying that Donald Trump was a Russian plant. We all know that was a lie. It was a blatant lie. But Adam Schiff did that. You should have him on your program and ask him about it,” he shot back at Acosta.

“So, Congressman, so I’m asking you, if Donald Trump orders people inside this country, citizens like Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi to be arrested, you’re saying, I think I just heard you a few moments ago saying you would not go along with that,” Acosta tried again.

“So why not denounce what the former president is saying when he calls them the enemy from within?” he asked but then continued to speak over the lawmaker as he tried to respond.

Donalds finally asked if Acosta was “going to let me answer your question?”

“Donald Trump’s been president for four years already,” Donalds said. “When he was president of the United States, did he weaponize the Justice Department against his political rivals? No, he did not. When he was president of the United States, did he order the National Guard or Secret Service or the U.S. military to go after his, quote, unquote, ‘rivals.’ No, he did not.”

Acosta continued his grumbling, telling the lawmaker that his response wasn’t “in line with reality.”

The topic shifted to Trump’s remarks about Arnold Palmer with Acosta repeatedly trying to get a soundbite from Donalds who shut him down each time with common sense.

“That‘s what the majority of our country wants in a president,” Donalds pushed back. “You could talk about stories about Arnold Palmer all you want, but that does not matter when people got to put food on the table, that stuff for your show, it might be good for your show. It‘s not good for the American people.”

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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida. Powers also contributes to BizPac Review.