CNN announced Tuesday that they’ve filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump and the White House over their decision to ban correspondent Jim Acosta last week. The White House banned Acosta after a contentious back-and-forth with Trump during a press conference in which an intern tried to snatch a microphone away from the reporter. It was also during that exchange that the White House accuses Acosta of putting his hands on the intern trying to take the microphone which according Sarah Huckabee-Sanders was the basis for Acosta having his ‘hard pass’ suspended.
However video and eyewitness account of the incident support Acosta’s claims that he didn’t place his hands on the intern while the White House may have been caught red-handed so-to-speak using doctored video to make their decision seem justified.
Friday, the Network sent a letter over to the White House demanding that Acosta’s press credentials be reinstated or that legal action could follow.
Tuesday, CNN made good on that threat.
In a statement on Tuesday morning, CNN said it is seeking a preliminary injunction as soon as possible so that Acosta can return to the White House right away, and a ruling from the court preventing the White House from revoking Acosta’s pass in the future.
“CNN filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration this morning in DC District Court,” the statement read. “It demands the return of the White House credentials of CNN’s Chief White House correspondent, Jim Acosta. 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. We have asked this court for an immediate restraining order requiring the pass be returned to Jim, and will seek permanent relief as part of this process.”
The White House Correspondents’ Association said it “strongly supports CNN’s goal of seeing their correspondent regain a US Secret Service security credential that the White House should not have taken away in the first place.”
CNN also asserted that other news organizations could have been targeted by the Trump administration this way, and could be in the future.
“While the suit is specific to CNN and Acosta, this could have happened to anyone,” the network said. “If left unchallenged, the actions of the White House would create a dangerous chilling effect for any journalist who covers our elected officials.”
Listed as defendants within the suit include Donald Trump, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, Deputy Chief of Staff Bill Shine, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, and the U.S. Secret Service and its director Randolph Alles and an unnamed Secret Service agent.
Huckabee-Sanders responded to the lawsuit saying that CNN has nearly 50 other credentialed reporters and that “Acosta is no more or less special than any other media outlet or reporter with respect to the First Amendment.”
However the difference between those other 50 credentialed reporters and Acosta is that Trump has had an on-going feud with the CNN reporter for some time now which is pretty much without question the true reason why Acosta had his ‘hard pass’ revoked. Not to mention Trump has over and over again pointed fingers at Acosta and CNN as being ‘fake news’.
Sanders continued saying “We have been advised that CNN has filed a complaint challenging the suspension of Jim Acosta’s hard pass. This is just more grandstanding from CNN, and we will vigorously defend against this lawsuit.”
