'He Really Believes This Stuff': CNN's Jim Acosta Rejects Trump's Claim He Never Read Hitler's Book 'Mein Kampf'

CNN anchor Jim Acosta cast doubt on former president Donald Trump's claim that he never read Mein Kampf, claiming the embattled GOP frontrunner has "been aware of the fact that he is echoing" Nazi German dictator Adolf Hitler and refuses to stop.

Trump told supporters this week that immigrants coming to the U.S. illegally are damaging the "blood" of the country on Tuesday at an Iowa campaign rally.

"It's true that they're destroying the blood of our country. That's what they're doing," Trump declared during an event in Waterloo. "They don't like it when I said that and I never read Mein Kampf. They said, 'Oh, Hitler said that in a much different way.'"

Acosta addressed his remarks on Wednesday afternoon's edition of Inside Politics, RadarOnline.com has learned, telling Nia-Malika Henderson his reaction. "When I listen to Donald Trump talking about Hitler and Mein Kampf, I was wondering if I've had too much NyQuil the night before. I mean, it's a little fever dreamy. It's a little strange."

Acosta also made note of a Vanity Fair profile from 1990 where Trump's first wife, Ivana, told her lawyer that he kept a book of Hitlers speeches, My New Order, in a cabinet near his bed that he reads from time to time. Trump previously denied the claim.

"This has come up in biographies about Donald Trump," Acosta continued. "People talking about Donald Trump, his past and so on, that he has had something of a fascination with Adolf Hitler over the years."

Henderson said Trump's rhetoric seems to be a part of a strategy he is doing going into the Iowa caucuses as the divided Colorado Supreme Court voted 4-3 to drop Trump from next year's presidential election ballot. "I mean, it's one of the reasons why they were so attracted to him in 2016, similar rhetoric, build a wall," she explained.

CNN Senior White House Correspondent MJ Lee chimed in to mention Trump's 2016 campaign and how he surged in the polls when he pushed boundaries.

"Like there's sort of extreme — you know, offensive things that Donald Trump will say that, you know, voters are willing to sort of either push off to the side or say, I think I know what he means," she explained.

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Acosta said MAGA voters often brush off his controversial statements. "I mean, you know, people can say, oh, this is just Donald Trump. He's just being Donald Trump. It sounds as though, and I mean, it just is the case," said the CNN personality, warning listeners: "This is what he believes this stuff."