By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2026-08-06 19:45:47 | Updated at 2026-08-06 20:26:11
45 minutes ago
Former CNN star Jim Acosta appeared to agree with TMZ's Harvey Levin that his old network helped foster an environment that helped deter discourse about COVID during the pandemic.
Levin, 75, brought up CNN's pandemic-era coverage a little more than ten minutes into Wednesday's episode of The Jim Acosta Show, which was streamed live.
Levin had been on to discuss his recent defense of Dr Anthony Fauci, whom several Republican lawmakers have accused of misleading Congress about funding for experiments overseas that could potentially have helped spread the virus.
The disease doctor's public statements about masks, social distancing, natural immunity and vaccines are also being heavily scrutinized.
The Senate Homeland Security Committee voted 8-5 to hold the former health official in contempt of Congress Thursday after he invoked the Fifth Amendment 111 times while being grilled about the government's pandemic response last week.
'So look, um, again, I want to be real about this, personally. I did have some problems with the way Covid was handled,' Levin suddenly told Acosta, 55.
He singled out children as a group that 'suffered' in particular from 'some of the policies.'
'And there was a degree of bullying,' the tabloid journalist continued. 'And, you know, you were at CNN at the time, and I got to say, you know, I watched you and CNN all the time.
TMZ founder Harvey Levin, 75, brought up CNN's pandemic-era coverage a little more than 10 minutes into Wednesday's Jim Acosta Show
'And there was this element of if you disagreed with them, that you were somehow traitorous.'
Levin warned he wasn't saying that 'CNN did it' knowingly.
'But there was an atmosphere of that, that you couldn't dare question, you know, where it came from and what precautions you should be taking - that you were somehow an idiot for doing it,' he added.
'And I think that intolerance was a problem.'
Levin then offered another disclaimer.
'But, that said, um, I think, you know, to reduce Anthony Fauci to looking like a criminal is just abhorrent.'
Acosta, who had been listening in, answered: 'Yeah, no. I agree with you.'
'As for the coverage, you know, I think we were all trying to figure this out in real time,' the former CNN Newsroom anchor added – citing 'so much disinformation that was being spread' at the time.
The diary entries were released as Fauci faces claims from Republicans that he signed off on funding for laboratories in China where workers manipulated viruses and misled Congress about his pandemic response. Fauci is seen here on CNN's State of the Union in July 2021
He billed his longtime nemesis, then-president Donald Trump, as a primary purveyor.
'Who was talking about how you could maybe inject disinfectants into your body or bring light bulbs into your body or whatever it was,' Acosta said.
'I remember when I was doing my show, I would just try to concentrate on having as many scientists and doctors and experts on as much as possible, just to make sure people were getting reliable information.'
He framed last week's hearing as an example of 'full-blown McCarthyism.'
Senator Rand Paul, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, relentlessly grilled Fauci for hours about the federal government's activities before and during the virus's initial spread.
The emergence of COVID-19 in late 2019 is the subject of two main theories – one being a laboratory-related incident, and the other natural zoonotic transmission, meaning it was transferred from animal to human.
Paul has repeatedly accused Fauci of downplaying the still-unproven theory that the virus emerged from a lab in Wuhan. Fauci has not been convicted of any crimes.
