CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta on Monday dared White House press secretary Sarah Sanders to name specific news outlets and journalists that President Trump believes are "the enemy of the people," as he often says when calling out what he believes is negative coverage of his administration.

"If the president is going to say the fake news media are the enemy of the people and if you’re going to stand there and continue to say there are some journalists and news outlets in this country that meet that characterization, shouldn’t you have the guts, Sarah, to state which outlets, which journalists are the enemy of the people?" Acosta asked Monday at a White House press briefing.

[Opinion: Obama, the Great Divider when in office, lacks the credibility to lecture America]





Sanders declined to name specific outlets, but said Trump likely has specific people in mind when he uses the terms "fake news" and "enemy of the people."

But Sanders said it was "irresponsible" for many in the news media, like CNN, to blame the president or members of his administration for the suspicious packages that were delivered to several high-profile Democrats, as well as CNN's New York headquarters, last week.

CNN's publicity department posted the exchange on Twitter. "No [Sanders], CNN did not say @realDonaldTrump was directly responsible for the bomb sent to our office by his ardent and emboldened supporter," CNN said. "We did say that he, and you, should understand your words matter. Every single one of them. But so far, you don’t seem to get that."

Earlier in the briefing, Sanders said that much of the media were quick to suggest that Trump was responsible for the suspicious packages, which are believed to have contained explosives, and the mass shooting Saturday at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, which left 11 dead and several more injured.