CNN sues Trump, demands reporter’s reinstatement
White House: Bring it on
NEW YORK (AP) — CNN took its access battle against the Trump administration to court on Tuesday, demanding the reinstatement of correspondent Jim Acosta’s White House credentials because their revocation violates the right of freedom of the press.
Besides seeking an injunction to let Acosta return immediately, CNN is launching a case that will test the ability of government officials anywhere to freeze out a reporter who displeases them.
The White House, never shy about picking a fight with CNN, told the news network to “bring it on.”
“This is just more grandstanding from CNN, and we will vigorously defend against this lawsuit,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said.
The administration stripped Acosta of his pass following US President Donald Trump’s contentious news conference last week, during which Acosta refused to give up a microphone when the president said he did not want to hear anything more from him.
Sanders initially explained the decision by accusing Acosta of making improper physical contact with the intern seeking to grab the microphone, but that rationale disappeared after witnesses backed Acosta’s account that he was just trying to keep the mic, and Sanders distributed a doctored video that made it appear Acosta was more aggressive than he actually was.
Trump called Acosta a “rude, terrible person,” and Sanders on Tuesday accused Acosta of being unprofessional by trying to dominate the questioning at the news conference.
For CNN, the White House was trying to silence a reporter.
Trump has made CNN and its reporters a particular target of his denunciation of “fake news” and characterization of the media as an enemy of the people.
In a letter to White House chief of staff John Kelly,
CNN chief executive officer Jeff Zucker called Trump’s attitude toward the network a “pattern of targeted harassment.”
“Mr. Acosta’s press credentials must be restored so that all members of the press know they will remain free to ask tough questions, challenge government officials and report the business of the nation to the American people,” said Theodore Olson, former US solicitor general and one of CNN’s lawyers on the case.
The White House Correspondents’ Association backed the lawsuit that was filed in the Washington, DC, district court.
“The president of the United States should not be in the business of arbitrarily picking the men and women who cover him,” the correspondents’ group president Olivier Knox said.
CNN would seem to be on strong legal ground, according to Katie Fallow, senior staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute.
During the Nixon administration in the 1970s, the Secret Service tried to deny credentials to a reporter from the Nation magazine because he had been involved in physical altercations, but was overruled by the DC circuit court, she said.
“I think it’s important, particularly as the president continues to push back on the role of an independent press, to stake out the legal rules that should govern this and not let the president block people from speaking based on their viewpoint,” Fallow said.
CNN said Acosta was given no warning of the action, and no recourse to appeal it. Acosta traveled to Paris to cover Trump’s visit there this weekend and, although given permission by the French government to cover a news event, the Secret Service denied him entrance, according to the company.