Reporter’s press pass suspended after Trump argument
The White House has suspended the press pass of CNN correspondent Jim Acosta after he and president Donald Trump had a heated confrontation during a news conference on Wednesday.
Mr Acosta asked Mr Trump about the caravan of migrants heading from Latin America to the US border.
When Mr Acosta tried to follow up with another question, Mr Trump said, “That’s enough!” and a female White House aide unsuccessfully tried to grab Mr Acosta’s microphone from him.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders released a statement accusing Mr Acosta of “placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern,” calling it “absolutely unacceptable.”
The interaction between Mr Acosta and the intern was brief, and Mr Acosta appeared to brush her arm as she reached for the microphone. “Pardon me, ma’am,” he said.
Mr Acosta tweeted that Ms Sanders’ statement that he put his hands on the aide was “a lie”. CNN said in a statement the White House revoked Mr Acosta’s press pass out of “retaliation for his challenging questions” and the network accused Ms Sanders of lying about Mr Acosta’s actions.
CNN said: “[Sanders] provided fraudulent accusations and cited an incident that never happened. This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country deserves better. jim A costa has our full support .”