JUST IN: U.S. Judge Temporarily Restores White House Press Pass To CNN’s Acosta

A federal judge on Friday granted CNN’s request for a court
order that would temporarily reinstate network correspondent Jim
Acosta’s White House press pass, which had been suspended
indefinitely in the wake of a fiery exchange between the reporter
and President Donald Trump a week earlier.

The ruling from Judge Timothy Kelly, who was appointed by Trump,
was the first victory for CNN in the ongoing case.

“I want to thank all of my colleagues in the press who supported
us this week, and I want to thank the judge for the decision he
made today,” Acosta said outside U.S. District Court in Washington,
D.C.

“Let’s go back to work!” he added.

CNN’s lawsuit, announced Tuesday, argues that Acosta’s
constitutional rights had been violated by Trump and five other
members of his administration, as well as by the U.S. Secret
Service. The other defendants include chief of staff John Kelly,
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, deputy chief of
staff Bill Shine and Secret Service Director Randolph Alles.

In a statement, CNN and Acosta said they “look forward to a full
resolution in the coming days.”

Statement from CNN and @Acosta^[1]
on today’s ruling: “We are gratified with this result and we look
forward to a full resolution in the coming days. Our sincere thanks
to all who have supported not just CNN, but a free, strong and
independent American press.”

— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) November
16, 2018^[2]

The legal challenge came in response to the Trump
administration’s decision last week to yank Acosta’s “hard pass,”
which gave him access to the White House grounds, after Acosta
clashed with the president at a news conference earlier that day.
The suit underscored Trump’s increasingly hostile relationship with
many mainstream media outlets, which he regularly decries as “fake
news” and “the enemy of the people.”

The White House had no immediate comment on the decision, or the
question of whether the administration will file an appeal of the
ruling.

CNN argued that the White House infringed on Acosta’s free press
and due process rights under the First and Fifth Amendments to the
U.S. Constitution. The network was asking for an order that would
temporarily reverse the White House’s suspension of Acosta’s hard
pass, until a final decision on the lawsuit was reached. CNN also
wants “a declaration that the revocation of Acosta’s press
credentials was unconstitutional.”

Kelly granted CNN’s request for a temporary restraining order,
ruling that the White House had violated Acosta’s due process. He
ordered both parties to file a joint status report next week on how
to proceed in the case.

CNN asked the judge to quickly rule on the request for a
temporary restraining order, arguing that “every day that passes
without Acosta regaining his press credentials is a concrete
injury.”

Justice Department lawyers replied in a court filing that
suspending the pass was “lawful” and that the White House held
“broad discretion to regulate” journalists’ access to the
grounds.

Acosta has often used stark language to challenge the White
House on its policies. At the most recent White House press
briefing on Oct. 29, Acosta grilled Sanders on Trump’s use of the
phrase “enemy of the people” to describe the media.

“If you’re going to stand there and continue to say there are
some journalists and news outlets in this country that meet that
characterization, shouldn’t you have the guts, Sarah, to state
which outlets, which journalists are the enemy of the people?”
Acosta asked.

Trump has specifically targeted both CNN and Acosta for their
coverage of him and his presidency. In January 2017, then-president
elect Trump tore into Acosta at a news conference, saying “your
organization is terrible” and “you are fake news.”

The rift between Acosta and the White House widened
substantially at a Nov. 7 news conference the day after the midterm
elections, where Trump claimed victory even after Democrats
regained majority control of the House.

During a lengthy question-and-answer period, Acosta rebuked
Trump for referring to a caravan of Central American migrants as an
“invasion,” and asked if the president thought he was demonizing
immigrants.

Trump became visibly agitated with Acosta when the reporter
continued asking follow-up questions after Trump tried to move on
to other reporters. A female White House staffer walked up to
Acosta and tried to snatch the microphone from his hand, but Acosta
initially refused to give it up. “Pardon me, ma’am,” Acosta said as
he continued to question Trump.

“I think you should let me run the country. You run CNN. And if
you did it well, your ratings would be much better,” Trump told him
at the time. “You are a rude, terrible person,” the president
added.

CNN’s court filing notes that the White House’s initial account
of the incident — which was also its initial justification for
suspended Acosta’s hard pass — was incorrect.

In a series of tweets Nov. 7, Sanders said the Trump
administration will “never tolerate a reporter placing his hands on
a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House
intern.”

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…

— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) November
8, 2018^[3]

Video footage of the event does not show Acosta putting his
hands on the woman, who had walked up to him and reached across his
torso to grab the microphone.

Sanders then released a video, reportedly sourced from
right-wing conspiracy site Infowars, which The Washington Post and
other outlets said was doctored. White House counselor Kellyanne
Conway on Monday denied that the video had been altered, but said
that it had been “sped up” in the same interview.

Kelly said in court Friday that the claim Acosta “laid hands” on
the staffer were “likely untrue.” The DOJ lawyers had declined to
defend that statement in a prior court appearance Wednesday.

Two days after Acosta lost his hard pass, Trump appeared to
undermine the White House’s official justification for its action.
Acosta “was not nice to that young woman,” Trump said, but “I don’t
hold him for that because it wasn’t overly, you know,
horrible.”

The press secretary later softened her language, accused Acosta
of having “physically refused” to give up the mic. The White
House’s court filing Wednesday only cited the more recent
characterization.

In an interview with right-wing news site the Daily Caller
published Wednesday, Trump said Acosta was “bad for the country,”
but said he wasn’t certain if he would beat CNN in the lawsuit.

“Is it freedom of the press when somebody comes in and starts
screaming questions and won’t sit down?” Trump asked
rhetorically.

CNN said in its legal challenge that the “pretextual and
unabashed attempt to censor a reporter” viewed as a critic sets a
chilling precedent. “It could be others also” who lose their press
passes, Trump said Nov. 9.

“This is an important victory for press freedom,” said Jameel
Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute
at Columbia University. “We need reporters to be able to ask tough
questions in these press briefings without having to fear that
their access will be revoked as a result. The First Amendment
forecloses the White House from selectively revoking access on the
basis of a reporter’s viewpoint.”

A swath of major media organizations, including NBC News, The
Washington Post and The New York Times came out in favor of CNN and
Acosta.

“It is imperative that independent journalists have access to
the President and his activities, and that journalists are not
barred for arbitrary reasons,” those outlets said in a joint
statement. “Our news organizations support the fundamental
constitutional right to question this President, or any
President.”

Fox News also came out publicly on CNN’s side, to the surprise
of some in the media. Trump has close friendships with many Fox
personalities, especially right-wing commentator Sean Hannity, and
regularly promotes the network’s content.

“While we don’t condone the growing antagonistic tone by both
the president and the press at recent media avails, we do support a
free press, access and open exchanges for the American people,” Fox
president Jay Wallace said in a statement.

But conservative cable network One America News Network, which
has reportedly become one of Trump’s favorites for its flattering
coverage of his presidency, filed a supporting document in CNN’s
case Thursday night supporting the White House over its media
colleague.

Trump was “right on point” to call Acosta “rude” during the
heated exchange at the news conference, OANN argued.

“While this narcissistic approach may serve Plaintiff’s
self-interests as entertainers or media figures and the network
that profits therefrom, they do not serve the interests of the
forum,” OANN said.

–CNBC’s Dan Mangan contributed to this report.

Culled from CNBC

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