A Judge Has Ordered The White House To Reinstate Jim Acosta’s Press Pass
Fire alarms at the White House are definitely going off right now from Donald Trump overheating with rage after learning that a judge ordered the WH to return CNN reporter Jim Acosta’s press pass.
Last week, a White House press conference with Trump got messier than usual after CNN’s Jim Acosta refused to back down from a question he had about the migrant caravans moving up from Central America to the US border. Trump brushed Jim off, but he continued trying to speak. That’s when a White House intern got involved in the most awkward way possible by trying to grab Jim’s microphone. Jim wouldn’t let go, which led us to a supremely uncomfortable game of grab-mic.
After the incident, the White House announced that it had revoked Jim’s press pass because they believed he had allegedly put hands on the intern. Their evidence was backed up by a clearly doctored video shared by Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Even Kellyanne Conway had a hard time wrapping her mouth around the lies of that one. CNN and Jim responded by filing a lawsuit against Donald Trump, Sarah Sanders, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, the Deputy Chief of Staff, the Director of the Secret Service, and an individual secret service officer. Multiple news outlets came to CNN’s defense, including Fox News.
Three days after filing their lawsuit, CNN is reporting that Federal Judge Timothy J. Kelly (who was appointed by Trump) decided in a court ruling today that the White House must reinstate Jim’s press pass immediately. The lawsuit alleges that the White House violated Jim’s First and Fifth Amendment rights by yanking his press credentials. Judge Kelly didn’t rule on the underlying accusations of the lawsuit; he simply granted CNN’s request for a temporary restraining order. He also said he believes that CNN and Jim Acosta would come out the winners of their lawsuit. Jim will reportedly be back at the White House this afternoon.
Jim released a statement thanking his colleagues for supporting him, and thanking the judge for his decision. Sarah Huckabee Sanders also released a statement:
“Today, the court made clear that there is no absolute First Amendment right to access the White House. In response to the court, we will temporarily reinstate the reporter’s hard pass. We will also further develop rules and processes to ensure fair and orderly press conferences in the future. There must be decorum at the White House.”
Trump hasn’t tweeted anything about Jim’s return. He’s too busy tweeting about his favorite book report topic (collusion). Although I can’t wait to see how his little hamster wheel brain interprets Sarah’s statement as he addresses Jim for the first time.
“Jim, you awful man, please take note: we’ve got the best decorum here at the White House. Although I would say it could be very much more classy. Personally, I would like to decorum this whole room in gold and ivory statues. Maybe get myself a tremendous throne.”
Pic: YouTube