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CNN filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in federal court demanding that the White House return correspondent Jim Acosta’s 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 posted to its website.
The network said it was seeking “an immediate restraining order” forcing the White House to return Acosta’s White House press credentials and that 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 reads. “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.”
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, press secretary 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.”
”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 posted to its website.
The network said it was seeking “an immediate restraining order” forcing the White House to return Acosta’s White House press credentials and that 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 reads. “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.”
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, press secretary 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.”
