White House again threatens CNN reporter Jim Acosta's press credentials

Yolanda Murray
01:28, Nov 20, 2018
Copyright 2015 All rights reserved. This material can't be published, transferred, copied or redistributed.
Copyright 2015 All rights reserved. This material can't be published, transferred, copied or redistributed.

The White House has restored the press credentials of CNN reporter Jim Acosta, less than two weeks after withdrawing them over an argument with President Trump during a news conference.

If the White House were to seek again to pull the hard pass, it would have required the administration to first ask a federal judge to lift a court order.

Over the weekend, Acosta and CNN's legal team wrote back to Sanders and Shine, calling the letter a "attempt to provide retroactive due process" and requesting the White House "refrain from - yet again - violating the constitutional rights of CNN and Acosta".

In a filing on Monday, CNN and Acosta asked for an expedited hearing next week after top White House communications officials told Acosta in a letter late on Friday that it had already chose to suspend his pass once the two-week restraining order expires. For the moment, it appears they will not do so.

The report says that CNN had meant to "resolve this dispute amicably" by working with the White House and the White House Correspondents' Association "to establish protocols" for press conferences "on a going forward basis".

Last Friday, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly temporarily restored Acosta's hard pass.

A journalist called upon to ask a question will ask a single question and then will yield the floor to other journalists;(2) At the discretion of the President or other White House official taking questions, a follow-up question or questions may be permitted; and where a follow up has been allowed and asked, the questioner will then yield the floor;(3) "Yielding the floor" includes, when applicable, physically surrendering the microphone to White House staff for use by the next questioner.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders and White House communications chief Bill Shine had earlier told Acosta that it had made a "preliminary decision" backed by Trump.

Acosta's credentials were revoked after Trump denounced him as a "rude, bad person" during a news conference the day after Trump's Republicans lost their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in congressional elections.

Dan Gainor of Media Research Center says Acosta is already getting on his colleagues' nerves - although publicly they all say they support his antics.

President Donald Trump speaks as CNN's Jim Acosta, standing at right, listens, during a news conference in the East Room of the White House, Nov. 7, 2018, in Washington.

The letter signaled that the Trump administration wants to continue fighting Acosta, despite the round one setback in court, rather than seeking an out-of-court settlement. The White House had considered only restoring the pass temporarily for the time required by the judge, but it caved and issued a full restoration Monday.

In a statement about the letter on Sunday, CNN said: "The White House is continuing to violate the First and Fifth Amendments of the Constitution".

At the contentious news conference a day after Trump's Republicans lost their majority in the US House of Representatives, Trump erupted with anger when Acosta questioned him about the investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and a migrant caravan travelling through Mexico. Kelly would have found, I think, that Acosta's habit of talking over people at a press conference simply isn't a "compelling" enough reason to ban him from the grounds entirely.

Copyright 2015 All rights reserved. This material can't be published, transferred, copied or redistributed.


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