CNN’s Jim Acosta says ‘we are not the enemy of the people’ in a shot at Trump as he returns to office.

CNN anchor Jim Acosta announced the incoming Trump administration with an on-air message that the media “is not the enemy of the people.”

During Thursday’s segment on CNN, the liberal journalist — who gained notoriety for his breakout role as White House correspondent during Trump’s first term — gave a monologue about the importance of the media in a democracy after President Biden warned that “the free press is collapsing” in his farewell speech.

Acosta seems to suggest that democracy will be attacked by Trump’s second name and refers to the “enemy of the people” that Trump has attacked against the media. Acosta even wrote a well-received memoir using those words in the title.

“We are not the enemy of the people. We are the defenders of the people. Walter Cronkite once said, ‘freedom of the press is not only essential to democracy. It is democracy,'” Acosta said in a clip first shared on X. by NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck.

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During the segment, the anchor mentioned a line from Biden’s farewell address on Wednesday about threats to the media.

“He warned that the free press is deteriorating in this country. I would add, that only if we the people allow that to happen,” said Acosta.

He went on to say that the anchor emphasizes the importance of journalists in protecting the truth.

“Journalists are there to seek the truth, to tell people’s stories, to raise voices that would not be heard otherwise, to shed light on injustice and to hold the powerful accountable,” he said.

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He ended up pulling out a pink sign that he said was given to him by an anti-Trump protester during Trump’s first term.

“I want to take a moment to show you something. A woman sent me this sign eight years ago. She carried it here at the march on Washington. She wrote on the back of the sign for me and the media here in DC, ‘we support you.’

She appeared to be referring to the far-left Women’s March on Washington and across the country that began to greet Trump when he took office in 2017.

The text on the sign read, “I March for Jim Acosta and FREE PRESS.”

“To Nora, wherever you are, I’m coming back to you. I’m reporting from Washington, I’m Jim Acosta,” he said.

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CNN’s Jim Acosta was famous for his opposition to the administration of President-elect Donald Trump. ((REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst))

Acosta is no stranger to anti-Trump grandstanding while in office. Back when he was CNN’s Chief White House Correspondent during Trump’s first term, he regularly interviewed the then-president during press conferences.

During one contentious moment at a White House press conference in 2018, Acosta refused to stop taking questions, prompting Trump to tell him “Enough is enough!”

When a White House student went to take the microphone out of the reporter’s hand, he refused to let it go, which caused a brief interaction between the two. In response, the White House revoked Acosta’s press pass. A judge later ruled in favor of CNN, ordering the government to return the passport.

Acosta also quoted from the Statue of Liberty during a chat room question, ripped Kim Kardashian for meeting Trump about prison reform as useless, and walked out of the briefing room once press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders didn’t mention the press. he was not an enemy of the people.

When asked about Acosta’s sign and apparent message to Trump on Thursday, a CNN spokesperson told Fox News Digital, “Jim was talking about the importance of a free press, something that all journalists and citizens should agree on.”

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