The White House won’t try to revoke a “hard pass” press credential for CNN chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta, Fox News reported Monday.
Acosta’s "hard pass" — which gave him expedited access to the White House grounds — was suspended Nov. 7 after he got into a contentious exchange during a news conference being held by President Donald Trump, and it was expected that the White House would again attempt to ban Acosta after a series of legal threats in emails and court filings, Fox News reported.
Last Friday, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly temporarily restored Acosta’s hard pass. But soon afterward, the White House sent the CNN correspondent a letter telling him a “preliminary decision” was made that his credential would be revoked, once again, after the temporary 14-day order expires, Fox News reported.
During a bitter Nov. 7 exchange between Acosta and Trump, Acosta refused to pass the microphone to a female White House aide and there was brief contact between the two. Acosta's “hard pass” was quickly yanked. CNN argued it violated the network's and Acosta’s First and Fifth Amendment rights.
A lawyer for CNN and Acosta, in a court filing Monday, claimed the White House was trying to punish Acosta based on “retroactive” application of rules that aren’t written yet — and asked for a hearing next week.
In an interview with Fox News’ Chris Wallace aired Sunday. Trump said he’d kick Acosta put of press conferences if he "misbehaves" going forward.
When Wallace asked what rules the administration would put in place as a result of the judge’s decision, Trump responded: “We’re writing them now.”
“We’ll have rules of decorum, you know you can’t keep asking questions,” Trump said, reiterating his announcement last Friday that the rules-writing was underway.
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