Former CNN anchor Jim Acosta praised and laughed at several anti-Trump protest signs while interviewing demonstrators in Washington, DC, during a “No Kings” rally on Saturday, part of a series of left-wing demonstrations held in cities across the United States against President Donald Trump.
During a segment of The Jim Acosta Show, Acosta stopped to speak with protesters. Looking at one sign, Acosta said it was “very funny” and “very clever” after reading the message, “Okay, cholesterol, do your job.” The sign appeared to joke about Trump suffering a fatal health event while in office.
Another sign featured an image of Russian leader Vladimir Putin standing next to a much smaller figure of Trump. The sign also included a graphic reading, “The Epstein files aren’t in Iran.” The words “I did this” were written on the sign with arrows pointing toward both the image and the graphic.
While discussing the sign, Acosta remarked, “The Epstein files aren’t in Iran. That’s very true. And many of the Epstein files have not been released. Millions of them have not been released. And so folks are wondering that too, but excellent signs.”
After calling the protesters “nice people,” Acosta ended the exchange by telling them, “Have a great ‘no kings’ day.”
Acosta’s remarks come more than a year after he left CNN. In January 2025, reports indicated Acosta planned to leave the network after CNN chief executive Mark Thompson removed him from his 10:00 a.m. weekday program and offered him a midnight-to-2:00 a.m. time slot instead. Status News reporter Oliver Darcy reported that one source close to the situation said the move was made to “throw a bone to Trump.”
Earlier this month, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr stated that Trump is “fundamentally reshaping the entire media ecosystem” by challenging legacy news organizations directly rather than accepting their framing of political issues. He added, “You start to see the consequences of him deciding that, you know, the legacy media is the emperor with no clothes. You see all sorts of changes now, right? A lot of these legacy reporters from Jim Acosta to Don Lemon losing their jobs. ”
