The White House has suspended the press credentials of CNN reporter Jim Acosta on Wednesday, hours after President Trump took issue with questions Acosta asked at a news conference.
The move to punish Acosta by removing his access to the White House is believed to be unprecedented. The Trump administration barred another CNN reporter from attending an open press event in July, but until now hasn’t gone as far as removing a credential, known as a “hard pass,” that enables journalists to enter the White House grounds.
Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders cited Acosta’s brief physical confrontation with a White House press aide during Trump’s press conference as the reason for suspending his press pass “until further notice.”
At the event, Trump snapped at Acosta after he asked the president if he he had “demonized immigrants” by calling a caravan of the Central American migrants “an invasion.” Following a lengthy and tense verbal back-and-forth, a female White House intern attempted to take the microphone away from Acosta.
Acosta held onto it, and raised his arm to stop the aide from taking the microphone from him, in the process making contact with her. “Pardon me, ma’am,” he told the woman.
On Wednesday night, Sanders accused Acosta of “placing his hands on a young woman” and said it was on those grounds that Acosta’s press pass was being suspended “until further notice.”