• White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders bashed the media at Wednesday’s press briefing when questioned about Trump supporters heckling CNN reporter Jim Acosta.
  • “This is a two way street,” Sanders said. “We certainly support a free press, we certainly condemn violence against anybody, but we also ask that people act responsibly and report accurately and fairly.”
  • During the press briefing, Sanders cited what is reportedly an “urban myth” regarding reporting on Osama bin Laden in the late 1990s.
  • This all comes a day after Acosta was met with boos and insults as he attempted to broadcast from Trump’s rally in Florida.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders bashed the media at Wednesday’s press briefing when questioned about Trump supporters heckling CNN reporter Jim Acosta at an event for the president in Tampa, Florida, the day before.

“This is a two way street,” Sanders said. “We certainly support a free press, we certainly condemn violence against anybody, but we also ask that people act responsibly and report accurately and fairly.”

Sanders then chided the media for allegedly putting lives in danger by reporting on leaked classified information.

Sanders then offered a dubious anecdote regarding reporting on Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden that goes all the way back to the late 1990s.

She claimed journalists at the time revealed leaked classified information that led the infamous terrorist to stop using a satellite phone, causing the US government to lose vital intelligence. But this story is reportedly an urban myth, and there isn't solid evidence that any reporting from US journalists caused bin Laden to stop using his satellite phone.

On Tuesday, CNN reporter Jim Acosta was met with boos and insults as he attempted to broadcast from Trump's rally in Florida. The president's supporters shouted "CNN sucks," "traitor," and "you're a liar" at Acosta during the event.

Acosta subsequently tweeted that he's "very worried that the hostility whipped up by Trump and some in conservative media will result in somebody getting hurt."

"We should not treat our fellow Americans this way," Acosta added. "The press is not the enemy."

This was not the first time a reporter has been harassed at a Trump rally, and in many cases the president has deliberately singled out individual reporters or directed negative comments at members of the media covering his events.

During a speech Trump recently delivered to Veterans of Foreign Wars in Kansas City, Missouri, for example, Trump told the audience not to believe "the crap you see from these people, the fake news."