CNN’s Acosta: Trump’s Cuba stance a “return to the Cold War”

CNN senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta said President Trump is ushering in “a return to the Cold War,” following Trump’s speech in Miami that focused on rolling back some of former President Obama’s policies on Cuba.

The new restrictions are largely aimed at tightening travel rules and stemming funds directed toward the Cuban military.

“Last year, I promised to be a voice against repression … and a voice for the freedom of the Cuban people,” the president said in his speech. “You went out and you voted. And here I am, like I promised. Like I promised.”

Acosta said the rollback of Obama policies was hypocritical after Trump’s praise for other countries accused of human rights violations.

{mosads}”Besides the minutiae of this policy, he’s ushering a return to the Cold War between Washington and Havana,” Acosta said. “He made that very clear in this speech, going after the Castro regime time and again accusing the government in Havana of rounding up innocent people, putting them behind bars purely for political reasons.”

“We have to call them like we see them here,” Acosta continued. “When the president talks about human rights and abuses and that sort of thing of people, he just came back from a foreign trip in Saudi Arabia where they still chop people’s heads off.

“There is selective outrage here when it comes to human rights and this Cuban-American community down here in Miami is still vitally important and you’ll talk to Cuban-Americans who will say this is not a monolithic community.”

Acosta and the president have clashed in the past, including a headline-grabbing moment in January during a press conference that included Trump calling Acosta and CNN “fake news,” while Acosta demanded an opportunity to ask a question.