NOVEMBER 7, 2018 5:10 PM PT
White House Suspends Access of CNN’s Jim Acosta
By TED JOHNSON
WASHINGTON — The White House has confirmed that it has suspended access to the White House by CNN’s Jim Acosta, its chief White House correspondent, after a confrontational exchange with President Trump at a press conference earlier on Wednesday.
Acosta posted on Twitter that he had been denied entrance to the White House grounds and could not do an 8 p.m. hit. He also posted video of himself being asked by a Secret Service agent to give up his hard pass.
I’ve just been denied entrance to the WH. Secret Service just informed me I cannot enter the WH grounds for my 8pm hit
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) November 8, 2018
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said they have suspended Acosta’s hard pass “until further notice.”
In a statement, she said “President Trump believes in a free press and expects and welcomes tough questions of him and his Administration. We will, however, never tolerate a reporter placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern. This conduct is absolutely unacceptable.”
She added, “It is also completely disrespectful to the reporter’s colleagues not to allow them an opportunity to ask a question. President Trump has given the press more access than any President in history. Contrary to CNN’s assertions, there is no greater demonstration of the President’s support for a free press than the event he held today.”
Acosta responded to Sanders’ claim by writing, “This is a lie.”
This is a lie. https://t.co/FastFfWych
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) November 8, 2018
A video of the incident shows Acosta, as he attempted to ask a followup question to Trump, holding a microphone and the intern approaching him and trying to take it away. “Pardon me, mam,” Acosta says. He eventually gave up the mike, but it does not show him grabbing her. If his hand touched her arm, it was very fleeting.
BREAKING: White House aide grabs and tries to physically remove a microphone from CNN Correspondent Jim Acosta during a contentious exchange with President Trump at a news conference. pic.twitter.com/Ml1OvlXpa9
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) November 7, 2018
Trump’s press conference, coming after Tuesday’s midterm results in which Democrats won back control of the House, was particularly confrontational with the news media. Trump also sparred with Yamiche Alcindor, a reporter for PBS Newshour, after she asked a question about Trump’s characterization of himself as a nationalist and how that relates to white nationalism. “That’s such a racist question,” Trump scolded her.
https://variety.com/2018/politics/news/jim-acosta-suspended-white-house-cnn-1203022818/
White House Suspends Access of CNN’s Jim Acosta
By TED JOHNSON
WASHINGTON — The White House has confirmed that it has suspended access to the White House by CNN’s Jim Acosta, its chief White House correspondent, after a confrontational exchange with President Trump at a press conference earlier on Wednesday.
Acosta posted on Twitter that he had been denied entrance to the White House grounds and could not do an 8 p.m. hit. He also posted video of himself being asked by a Secret Service agent to give up his hard pass.
I’ve just been denied entrance to the WH. Secret Service just informed me I cannot enter the WH grounds for my 8pm hit
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) November 8, 2018
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said they have suspended Acosta’s hard pass “until further notice.”
In a statement, she said “President Trump believes in a free press and expects and welcomes tough questions of him and his Administration. We will, however, never tolerate a reporter placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern. This conduct is absolutely unacceptable.”
She added, “It is also completely disrespectful to the reporter’s colleagues not to allow them an opportunity to ask a question. President Trump has given the press more access than any President in history. Contrary to CNN’s assertions, there is no greater demonstration of the President’s support for a free press than the event he held today.”
Acosta responded to Sanders’ claim by writing, “This is a lie.”
This is a lie. https://t.co/FastFfWych
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) November 8, 2018
A video of the incident shows Acosta, as he attempted to ask a followup question to Trump, holding a microphone and the intern approaching him and trying to take it away. “Pardon me, mam,” Acosta says. He eventually gave up the mike, but it does not show him grabbing her. If his hand touched her arm, it was very fleeting.
BREAKING: White House aide grabs and tries to physically remove a microphone from CNN Correspondent Jim Acosta during a contentious exchange with President Trump at a news conference. pic.twitter.com/Ml1OvlXpa9
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) November 7, 2018
Trump’s press conference, coming after Tuesday’s midterm results in which Democrats won back control of the House, was particularly confrontational with the news media. Trump also sparred with Yamiche Alcindor, a reporter for PBS Newshour, after she asked a question about Trump’s characterization of himself as a nationalist and how that relates to white nationalism. “That’s such a racist question,” Trump scolded her.
https://variety.com/2018/politics/news/jim-acosta-suspended-white-house-cnn-1203022818/
