Judge forces Donald Trump to return press pass to CNN’s Jim Acosta, in media freedom victory
- Media groups including rival network Fox News supported CNN in the case
- The ruling favoured constitutional guarantees of press freedom over the US president’s ability to decide who has access to his official residence
US President Donald Trump must restore White House access to CNN reporter Jim Acosta for now, a federal judge has said.
The White House said it would “temporarily reinstate” Acosta’s press pass, after District Judge Timothy Kelly issued a restraining order that served as a rebuke to the president as he tries to recover from losses in midterm congressional elections. It furthers a portrait of a president overstepping his authority to settle personal scores and carries extra sting because it was issued by a judge that Trump appointed.
“This is a case in which the White House’s visceral anger at the press in general and at Acosta and CNN in particular collided with binding Constitutional precedent, including precedent that clearly governed – and precluded – the revocation of Jim Acosta’s White House press access,” said Jeffrey Robbins, a First Amendment lawyer who’s not involved in the case.
“This is going to prove to be a decision with consequences far beyond what happened to Mr Acosta.”
The decision comes amid Trump’s escalating feud with the media and, more specifically, with CNN, which he is derided as a purveyor of fake news.
Other networks, including CNN’s rival, Fox News, rallied around their competitor this week in defence of their First Amendment right to cover the president.