CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta is being mocked online after posting a tweet about the US-Mexico border wall which Republicans are calling a massive self-own.
Mr Acosta, who was infamously kicked out of the White House last year after a contentious back and forth with US President Donald Trump, was in Texas on Friday (NZ time) where Mr Trump is expected to speak on the lack of funding for a border wall with Mexico.
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In the McAllen area of the state, which borders Mexico, Mr Acosta tweeted that he "found some steel slats" which appear to be a form of barrier marking the border, "but I don't see anything resembling a national emergency situation".
Mr Trump is presently considering whether to declare a national emergency to gain access to money allocated to the Department of Defence in order to build the wall.
In a video attached to the tweet, Mr Acosta walks along the wall saying he can't see any danger or migrants "trying to rush towards this fence".
"No sign of the national emergency the President is talking about. As a matter of fact, it is pretty tranquil down here."
A number of Republicans, including White House press secretary Sarah Sanders and Donald Trump Jr, have taken to Twitter to mock Mr Acosta and call his tweet a "self-own".
"When I went with [President Trump] to the border today I never imagined [Jim Acosta] would be there doing our job for us and so clearly explaining why walls work. Thanks Jim!" Ms Sanders wrote.
"Of course you don't Jim. That's because walls work. Thanks for your help proving [President Trump's] point and simultaneously creating one of the best self-own videos ever," tweeted the President's son.
Mr Acosta replied to Mr Trump Jr's tweet: "It's a little strange Don. You guys seem to be saying the current measures in place are working. Does that mean your dad should reopen the government and get federal employees back to work?"
He also said Ms Sanders was "twisting the truth again" and while the slats don't run across the entire border, residents felt safe.
Other Twitter users also called out the journalist, with one saying he had just done a "commercial for why the steel barrier is working".
Caleb Hull, the director of a social media strategy agency aiming "to reach right of centre audiences", tweeted "Jim Acosta just posted one of the biggest self-owns ever".
Former CNN journalist Peter Hamby also took aim at Mr Acosta: "I am *shocked* that a glib video, customised for re-tweets and filmed in broad daylight...did not reveal anything dramatic."
After Mr Trump addressed the nation on Tuesday about the lack of funding for the wall, Mr Acosta told CNN that it should have come with a warning it was "hazardous to the truth".
Mr Trump claims undocumented immigrants and drugs are coming from Mexico, despite illegal immigration at a 20-year low, reports Reuters.
Democrats accuse the President of using fear tactics to get his way.
Mr Trump's trip to Texas came on the 20th day of a partial US government shutdown, as he fights with Democrats for funding.
Newshub.
