White House pulls CNN reporter's card

The White House revoked Press access by CNN reporter Jim Acosta After an argument during a press conference of President Donald Trump, said Wednesday night press officer Sarah Huckabee Sanders White House. The reasons given by Sanders for obtaining Acosta's press pass were clearly fabricated.

She said in a statement that "Acosta had placed" her hands on a young woman who was trying to do her job as a trainee at the White House ", which had led to the decision to suspend access to 39; Acosta to the White House until further notice. The video rehearsals of the interaction showed that this was clearly not the case.

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"The fact that CNN is proud of the way its employees have behaved is not only disgusting, it is an example of their outrageous disregard for everyone, including the young women who work in this administration," he said. Sanders said in a statement to the White House press. basin. "As a result of today's incident, the White House will suspend the map of the journalist involved until further notice."

Later in the evening, Sanders tweeted a video that included an enlarged version of the incident resembling an instant rehearsal of the NFL, indicating that the White House had maintained its decision.

As president, Trump launched an unprecedented war against journalists, often making fun of "fake media" and especially CNN. Acosta, who gained notoriety through his coaching sessions with the president, is perhaps his favorite target. The decision to shoot his pass, however, marked a new escalation.

At the press conference on Wednesday earlier in the day, Trump was more and more irritated by the persistent questioning of Acosta. At one point, the president called Acosta "a rude and terrible person" who "should not work for CNN".

"Honestly, you should let me run the country, you should run CNN, and if you did it well, your grades would be much better," Trump said.

Video of the event shows a press assistant who picks up the microphone of Acosta, who retires and continues to try to ask a question to Trump about the investigation of Russia. The president then moved away from the lectern while the woman took the microphone and gave it to another reporter.

It is clear from the video that Acosta took no improper action against the assistant.

In a statement Wednesday night, CNN said that she was supporting her journalist and that the White House's decision was an "unprecedented decision and a threat to our democracy."

"The White House announced tonight that it has canceled the press card from CNN White House chief correspondent Jim Acosta in retaliation for his difficult questions at today's press conference," reads in the network statement. "The press secretary, Sarah Sanders lied. She provided fraudulent charges and cited an incident that never happened. This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country deserves better. Jim Acosta has our full support.

The president of the White House Correspondents Association, Olivier Knox, has also published an opinion. declaration, saying that his group "strongly opposes the Trump administration's decision to use US secret service security credentials as a tool to punish a journalist with whom he has a difficult relationship. Revoking access to the White House complex is a misplaced reaction to the alleged offense and is unacceptable. "

Knox added, "We urge the White House to immediately reverse this weak and misguided action."

Earlier in the day, CNN had suspended coverage of the midterm elections to hold fireworks group discussions at Trump's press conference. But after the announcement of the revocation of the difficult pass of Acosta, the network is largely attached to its coverage of the ousting of Attorney General Jeff Trump Sessions. Many have criticized the media for allowing Trump to play the publisher's homework, and in this case, CNN seemed at least determined not to bite on the hook.

Only briefly at the end of Anderson Cooper's program on Wednesday night, Acosta appeared alongside the host to address the issue.

The CNN reporter said that he had tried to act professionally during the exchange with the president, but that the decision to withdraw his press card was intended to send a message to his peers in the room.

"It's a test for us all," said Acosta. "I think they're trying to lock us up in the White House press. And to a certain extent, I think they are trying to send a message to our colleagues. "

On Twitter, Acosta received unconditional support, even from those who opposed his sometimes confrontational and captivating style of questioning.

"A lot of things to criticize for Acosta, but he did not get his hands on the trainee," tweeted Chuck Ross, journalist at the Daily Caller, a conservative site. "It's ridiculous that anyone suggests doing it. And after Trump joked that Gianforte would have bodied Ben Jacobs, the White House can not break the fainting couch now. "

At a political rally last month, the President recalled the episode last year when Representative Greg Gianforte (R-Mont.) Assaulted a Guardian reporter, saying to the crowd: "Any type capable of slamming the body is my kind. "

Reuters correspondent at the White House, Jeff Mason, himself former president of the White House Correspondents Association, said he was next to Acosta throughout the conference. Wednesday and that he had not seen Acosta put his hands on the trainee, as Sanders claims.

"I was sitting next to @Acosta at today's press conference and I did not see him" putting his hands "on the young intern, as the White House claims, wrote Mason on Twitter "He hung on the microphone while she was trying to reach it.The @Reuters images below describe what happened precisely."

In response to the allegations on Twitter, Acosta called them "lies" and posted a video he said he belonged to a secret service officer asking him to hand him his pass and preventing him from entering the White House compound for a live shooting on Wednesday night .

Peter Baker, White House chief correspondent for The New York Times, said he had never seen anything like it in the two decades he wrote about the West Wing.

"It's something I've never seen since I covered the White House in 1996," Baker wrote on Twitter. "The other presidents did not fear difficult questions."

It is relatively rare that former White House press secretaries openly criticize the outgoing president, but former spokesman, Joe Lockhart, who worked for Bill Clinton's administration, tweeted: "The" obligatory passage "according to which WH journalists are used as a security tool for the WH. Journalists who are approved are allowed access to what most journalists do not have. These passes are not designed as a tool to select journalists you like or punish those you do not like. It's an abuse of power. "

However, Ari Fleischer, who was press secretary to President George W. Bush, defended the decision. "As a former white house press officer who worked very differently from the Trump White House, I tend to give journalists a lot of leeway," he wrote in a statement. an email to POLITICO. "But I can not defend Jim Acosta's behavior. He does not just ask questions. He takes a stand, which is absolutely not the job of a White House reporter. "

This is not the first time Trump has been playing with press access. In July, the White House banned CNN journalist Kaitlan Collins from covering an event after she challenged questions she had asked during a photo shoot at the Oval Office. but his powers have not been revoked. The badge that allows regular White House journalists to access the site is a difficult badge.

During his presidential run, Trump's campaign also garnered a number of reporters' press badges, including the New York Times, Washington Post, BuzzFeed and POLITICO. As a candidate, Trump promised not to exclude journalists from the White House briefing room if he became president, saying at the time that "it's a different thing."

It is unclear whether Acosta could gain access to White House lands in any other way since daily and weekly passes are available, but they must be requested regularly. The White House did not immediately answer questions asking if Acosta would be allowed to use this type of pass.

Christopher Cadelago contributed to this report.