CNN's Jim Acosta Calls Out Fox New's Sean Hannity as a 'Propagandist for Profit' Who Is 'Injecting Poison into the Nation’s Political Bloodstream'

CNN reporter Jim Acosta fiercely criticized Sean Hannity on Wednesday after the Fox News host had said Acosta deserved the verbal abuse he endured while reporting at President Donald Trump's campaign rally the previous night.

"Hannity is a propagandist for profit, peddling lies every night," Acosta said in a tweet. "He says he’s just a talk show host, not a journalist. But he’s injecting poison into the nation’s political bloodstream warping public attitudes about the press. I’m confident in the long run the truth will prevail."

During an appearance on HLN with S.E. Cupp earlier in the day, Acosta had said of the rally: “Honestly, it felt like we weren’t in America anymore."

He added: “I don’t know how to put it any more plainly than that. Americans should not be treating their fellow Americans in this way.”

After the incident at the rally, some of which Acosta recorded, Hannity said Tuesday night that CNN deserved the ire and ridicule. 

"I’m actually going to give your network some advice, if you have an open mind and an open heart," Hannity said. "The people of this country are screaming at you for a reason. They don’t like your unfair, abusively biased treatment of the president of the United States."

Ironically, after press secretary Sarah Sanders was asked to leave a restaurant in June because of her association with the administration, many on Fox News and other media outlets had pleaded for "civility." In this context, Hannity said some of Trump's opponents were "utterly psychotic and unhinged."