CNN sues White House on Acosta ban
Administration calls suit ‘more grandstanding’
WASHINGTON – CNN filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Trump administration in federal court, demanding that the White House return correspondent Jim Acosta’s press credentials, the cable news network announced Tuesday.
“The wrongful revocation of these credentials violates CNN and Acosta’s First Amendment rights of freedom of the press, and their Fifth Amendment rights to due process,” the network said in a statement.
The network sought “an immediate restraining order” forcing the White House to return Acosta’s White House credentials, and said it “will seek permanent relief as part of this process.”
“While the suit is specific to CNN and Acosta, this could have happened to anyone,” the statement said. “If left unchallenged, the actions of the White House would create a dangerous chilling effect for any journalist who covers our elected officials.”
The administration pulled Acosta’s credentials last week after a heated exchange with President Donald Trump during a White House news conference in which the president called the CNN reporter a “rude, terrible person.” Trump went after Acosta because he persisted in asking a question about the investigation into Russian election meddling after Trump called on another reporter.
Amid the back and forth, Acosta resisted a White House aide’s effort to take the microphone from him. In justifying the decision to revoke Acosta’s White House pass, spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the administration will “never tolerate a reporter placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern.”
Sanders was criticized for tweeting a video that she claimed “clearly documented” Acosta’s “inappropriate behavior.” Aymann Ismail, a video producer for Slate, said the video’s speed was altered to make it appear that Acosta gave the young woman a “karate chop” when he actually gently pushed her arm away.
The video was promoted by InfoWars, a far-right site that peddles conspiracy theories, including an assertion that the Sandy Hook shooting in which 20 children died in 2012 was a hoax.
The White House dismissed the lawsuit as “more grandstanding from CNN” in a statement Tuesday.
The administration argued that CNN has nearly 50 other reporters with “hard pass” White House credentials and that “Mr. Acosta is no more or less special than any other media outlet or reporter with respect to the First Amendment.” The statement cited Acosta’s refusal to surrender the microphone “so that other reporters might ask their questions” as the reason for Acosta’s punishment.
“The White House cannot run an orderly and fair press conference when a reporter acts this way, which is neither appropriate nor professional,” the statement said. “The First Amendment is not served when a single reporter, of more than 150 present, attempts to monopolize the floor.”
Trump has gone after other reporters in the past week – including April Ryan of American Urban Radio Network, PBS correspondent Yamiche Alcindor and Acosta’s CNN colleague Abby Phillip – and he indicated Friday that he might pull the credentials of other “unprofessional” journalists.
Sanders is a defendant in CNN’s lawsuit, along with Trump, chief of staff John Kelly and deputy chief of staff for communication Bill Shine. The Secret Service, agency director Randolph Alles and an unidentified Secret Service agent are also listed.
CNN filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for Washington.
In the filing, the network called Acosta’s “severe and unprecedented punishment” the “culmination of years of hostility by President Trump against CNN and Acosta based on the contents of their reporting – an unabashed attempt to censor the press and exclude reporters from the White House who challenge and dispute the president’s point of view.”