A judge on Friday ordered the White House to immediately restore the hard pass press credential of CNN White House Correspondent Jim Acosta after it was temporarily suspended following a tense exchange with President Donald Trump.
“I will order defendants immediately restore Mr. Acosta’s hard pass.” Judge rules in favor of CNN in this initial proceeding and White House MUST restore @Acosta press pass IMMEDIATELY.
— Jessica Schneider (@SchneiderCNN) November 16, 2018
CNN Justice Department correspondent Jessica Schneider reports the judge said the White House did not provide Acosta “due process” in revoking the pass.
Judge is now saying that the White House DID NOT provide @acosta due process in revoking his hard pass.
— Jessica Schneider (@SchneiderCNN) November 16, 2018
Further, the judge reportedly stated the fact that CNN has other pass holders does not reduce the level of “harm” towards Acosta.
Judge: fact that cnn has other pass holders does NOT make the “harm to @Acosta any less irreparable” (yay)
— ErikWemple (@ErikWemple) November 16, 2018
On Thursday, Kelly, a Trump-appointee, delayed his decision on whether to order the Trump administration to return the White House press credentials of Acosta.
Kelly heard arguments Wednesday from lawyers representing CNN and the Justice Department. The news network was seeking an immediate restraining order that would force the White House to hand back Acosta’s credentials, which grant reporters access into the 18-acre complex.
Acosta has clashed repeatedly with President Trump and press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in briefings over the last two years. However, the dynamic devolved into a near-shouting match during a combative press conference last week following midterm elections in which Republicans lost control of the House.
Acosta refused to give up a microphone when the president said he didn’t want to hear anything more from him. President Trump referred to Acosta a “rude, terrible person.”
Hours later, The White House announced that Acosta’s White House access would be revoked.
The CNN lawsuit called the revocation “an unabashed attempt to censor the press and exclude reporters from the White House who challenge and dispute the President’s point of view.”
Justice Department lawyer James Burnham argued that Acosta was guilty of “inappropriate grandstanding” and deserved to lose his access over “his refusal to comply with the general standards of a press conference.”
Burnham said that the White House is essentially President Trump’s home and office and that he has some right to decide who can and can’t be there. “There’s no First Amendment right to access the White House grounds,” Burnham said. Further, Burnham also pointed out that CNN has dozens of other staffers with White House credentials, so excluding Acosta would not harm the network’s coverage.
The network’s lawyer, Theodore Boutrous, contended that Acosta was being singled out for his White House coverage, not his alleged rudeness during a news conference.
“The White House has made very clear that they don’t like the content of the reporting by CNN and Jim Acosta,” Boutrous said. “Rudeness really is a code word for ‘I don’t like you being an aggressive reporter.’”
President Trump, in an interview published Wednesday, told The Daily Caller that “guys like Acosta” were “bad for the country. … He’s just an average guy who’s a grandstander who’s got the guts to stand up and shout.”
A number of news organizations, including Fox News, CBS News, and NBC, announced their intention to file amicus briefs with the court in support of CNN. One American News announced Thursday it would file a brief in support of the White House.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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