Jim Acosta surrounded and harassed on air while reporting from CPAC

CNN’s Jim Acosta was surrounded and harassed by the crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando. The crowd chanted “CNN sucks” at Mr Acosta after they surrounded him.

In another video of the confrontation, a woman can be heard screaming “get him! Get him!” A writer at the conservative magazine, The Federalist, livestreamed himself interrupting Mr Acosta and demanding to know when the station was going to start covering New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and the Covid deaths associated with his leadership failures.

In the video, David Marcus, a correspondent for The Federalist, approaches Mr Acosta, who is conducting another interview.

Mr Acosta was asking another man about whether or not its appropriate for Donald Trump to attend CPAC and continue spreading election lies when Mr Marcus broke into the conversation.

Mr Marcus began repeatedly asking "when are you going to start covering Cuomo?"

Mr Acosta attempted to de-escalate the confrontation, but Mr Marcus continued to press, unwilling to accept any answer Mr Acosta gave.

The CNN anchor said his network did cover the governor, but Mr Marcus disregarded the defence and pressed further.

“No you don’t, no you don’t, no you don’t,” Mr Marcus said. “He killed 10,000 people and he’s accused of sexual assault, and you guys want to talk about Ted Cruz.”

Mr Marcus was referring to the decision by Mr Cuomo’s administration to cover-up the thousands of nursing home residents who died in New York of Covid-19, and to sexual assault allegations made by the former chief of staff at New York’s state economic agency, Lindsey Boylan, against the governor.

Mr Acosta told Mr Marcus he would talk with him as soon as the interview was over, but Mr Marcus refused. He then asked Mr Acosta when CNN would cover Mr Cuomo, and when Mr Acosta said they would, he again refused to accept the anchor’s statement.

A simple search on CNN’s website shows that it has covered both the sexual assault allegations made against Mr Cuomo as well as the Covid-19 controversy. The station employs Mr Cuomo’s brother, Chris, as an anchor.

Donald Trump recently pointed to Mr Cuomo as a main driver in post-election animosity towards him. In a statement issued by the former president after the Supreme Court ruled that Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance could access his tax records, Mr Trump accused Mr Cuomo of pulling the strings behind the investigation.

The former president also routinely made CNN a target of his ire. Chants of “CNN sucks” were common at his rallies, and he had special disdain for Mr Acosta, who he sparred with on several occasions.