CNN and Jim Acosta filed a lawsuit against President Trump, WH Press Sec. Sarah Sanders, the Secret Service and several aides on Tuesday over the suspension of Acosta’s hard press pass.
ABC reported:
“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,” CNN’s communications team said in a press release.
In the complaint, filed in D.C. District Court, lawyers for CNN argued the “revocation of Acosta’s credentials is only the beginning.”
“This severe and unprecedented punishment is the culmination of years of hostility by President Trump against CNN and Acosta based on the contents of their reporting—an unabashed attempt to censor the press and exclude reporters from the White House who challenge and dispute the President’s point of view,” CNN’s lawyers wrote in the court documents.
The president “lacks the authority to quash” the First Amendment, the lawyers wrote, and access to the White House cannot be denied arbitrarily.
According to the lawsuit, CNN and Acosta aim to “enforce this constitutional commitment, restore Acosta’s well-deserved press credentials, and ensure that the press remains free to question the government and to report the business of the nation to the American people.”
Jim Acosta’s White House press pass was suspended following the incident wherein he assaulted a female White House staffer last Wednesday.
Acosta said Secret Service denied him entry to the White House following the suspension.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders responded to CNN’s lawsuit on Tuesday and ripped Jim Acosta.
“This is just more grandstanding from CNN, and we will vigorously defend against this lawsuit,” Sarah Sanders said in a statement.
Sarah Sanders pointed out that CNN has nearly 50 additional hard pass holders and that Jim Acosta is “no more or less special than any other media outlet or reporter with respect to the First Amendment.”
Full statement via ABC News:
In case you missed it, below is video of Jim Acosta forcefully pushing away a female White House staffer when she tried to take away his microphone after he engaged in an argument with the President:
Jim Acosta @Acosta assaults the White House staffer and CNN @cnn stands behind him ❗️
Shame on #CNN
Shame of Jim Acosta pic.twitter.com/xgNqy1rqPJ— πΊπΈπ ππ¬π«ππ©π‘ π. ππ―π²πͺπ π³π¬π±π’π― (@realDonaldVoter) November 7, 2018
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