CNN’s Jim Acosta Has Case Tip For Gov. DeSantis’ Vote Cops: ‘Coup’ Plot At Mar-a-Lago

CNN host Jim Acosta on Saturday took on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ controversial plan to establish the nation’s first-ever election police force with a tip for its initial case: A “coup” plot at Donald Trump’s Florida golf resort Mar-a-Lago.

“Yes, officer Ron, I’d like to report an insurrection!” smirked Acosta.

With no evidence of notable vote fraud, the Republican governor has alarmed voting rights advocates with his scheme to create a $5.7 million security force to police voting. If approved, the 52-member team would “investigate, detect, apprehend, and arrest anyone for an alleged violation” of election laws.

“They don’t have a lot of safeguards to keep this from being politicized and weaponized,” Brad Ashwell, the Florida state director of the voting rights group All Voting is Local, warned CNN earlier this week.

Acosta agreed, particularly, he noted, since the most egregious threats to voting rights have come from DeSantis’ own party.

“If Ron DeSantis wants to put that election police force to good use, he might consider sending them over to Mar-a-Lago,” Acosta said. “You know, just to ask a few questions about an attempted coup. Yes, officer Ron, I’d like to report an insurrection — the one on Jan. 6.”

Acosta suggested in addition that DeSantis might want to check out Trump ally Rudy Giuliani, who reportedly coordinated the filing of fake certificates by fake slates of GOP electors in states Trump lost.

Acosta also slammed Republicans (and Democratic lawmakers Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona) for quashing the Voting Rights Act.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) afterward shrugged off questions about continued threats to the voting rights of people of color, especially given Republican moves to make voting more difficult. McConnell insisted that “African-American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans.”

After an explosive blowback, McConnell said Friday he “misspoke,” and claimed he intended to say “in just as high a percentage as all Americans.” He also lashed criticism of what he actually said as “hurtful and offensive.”

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Check out Acosta’s take on American voting rights in the video clip up top. He hands DeSantis his first tip for his planned election police force at 5:25.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

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