CNN's Jim Acosta refers to rise of Tea Party as 'ghosts of the 20th century,' says he saw 'racist imagery' at rallies

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CNN's liberal star reporter Jim Acosta knocked the Tea Party in his new book, referring to the movement as "ghosts of the twentieth century" that emerged in the Obama years.

In chapter seven of his anti-Trump memoir "The Enemy of the People: A Dangerous Time to Tell the Truth in America," which focuses on President Trump's handling of the Charlottesville march and aftermath, he recalls the racism he witnessed as a young reporter, citing a neo-Nazi march he covered before working at the cable news network.

Acosta then pivoted to the rise of the Tea Party movement in 2010 during President Obama's first term in office and suggested the Tea Party was motivated by the president's race.

"During the Obama administration, it was clear that the ghosts of the twentieth century hadn't fully been laid to rest," Acosta wrote. "The election of the first African American president gave rise to the Tea Party, the fiscally conservative political movement within the Republican Party."

He also blasted what he said was the hypocrisy of Tea Party members, whom he alleged opposed the increase of the national debt and deficit spending under Obama, but went on to "handing out lavish tax cuts for the rich" under Trump as well as under George W. Bush.

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"What I witnessed time and time again covering Tea Party rallies and marches was an outburst of racist imagery on signs and T-shirts; one sign at a Tea Party march depicted Obama and [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi in bed with each other."

While promoting his book Tuesday night, Acosta also insisted his network is "pro-truth" and not anti-Trump.