Network Whose Reporter Shoved Woman in WH Calls Trump's Behavior 'Disturbing'
President Donald Trump held a post-midterm elections news conference in the White House Wednesday that began with rather complimentary and conciliatory statements toward Democrats and the presumed next Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.
However, everything changed once Trump opened up the event for questions by the gathered media, and he quickly became locked in a contentious exchange with CNN correspondent Jim Acosta, who offered up argumentative opinions instead of asking actual questions.
That prompted Trump to repeatedly tell Acosta, “That is enough” and to “Sit down.”
But Acosta persisted, even physically struggling for a moment with a young female aide who attempted to retrieve the microphone from his grasp, which also drew more harsh rhetoric from the president.
“I tell you what, CNN should be ashamed of themselves having you working for them,” Trump told Acosta. “You are a rude, terrible person. You should not be working for CNN.”
Unsurprisingly, CNN stood behind its egocentric and outburst-prone White House correspondent. It quickly released an official statement that seemed to shift all of the blame for the incident on Trump, whose actions the network described as “disturbingly un-American,” while apparently absolving Acosta of any responsibility in the matter.
CNN’s response to @realDonaldTrump’s press conference today: pic.twitter.com/tJ3nZDnYwO
— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) November 7, 2018
The CNN statement declared, “This president’s ongoing attacks on the press have gone too far. They are not only dangerous, they are disturbingly un-American.”
“While President Trump has made it clear he does not respect a free press, he has a sworn obligation to protect it. A free press is vital to democracy, and we stand behind Jim Acosta and his fellow journalists everywhere,” the statement added.
Check out the news conference confrontation here. The actual struggle between Acosta and the aide comes about the 1:30 mark.
Though plenty of attention has been paid to the exchange between Acosta and Trump, there was intense focus on the physical contact made between Acosta and the intern, which while not necessarily a violent assault, was nevertheless entirely inappropriate behavior for a news conference in the White House.
As such, the White House took the extraordinary step of temporarily revoking Acosta’s White House press credentials, or “hard pass,” that allowed him entry to White House events. That, of course, drew an outraged response statement from CNN and many others in the liberal media.
The network’s statement said, “The White House announced tonight that it has revoked the press pass of CNN’s Chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta. It was done in retaliation for his challenging questions at today’s press conference.
“In an explanation, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders lied. She provided fraudulent accusations and cited an incident that never happened,” the statement continued, as the network implored everyone to disbelieve their lying eyes and what was clearly evident on video.
“This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country deserves better. Jim Acosta has our full support,” the statement added.
Tonight the White House revoked @Acosta’s press pass. CNN’s response to @PressSec and @realDonaldTrump: pic.twitter.com/EY2iFLvP3P
— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) November 8, 2018
The revocation of Acosta’s hard pass wasn’t in “retaliation” to his “challenging questions,” but a long-overdue response to his many disruptive moments over the past two years.
Neither is it a “threat to our democracy,” namely because we are a constitutional Republic, and also because Acosta hasn’t been “silenced” or stripped of his free speech rights … he just can’t opine from inside the White House anymore.
But mostly that statement from CNN is beyond ridiculous because, as previously mentioned, the entire incident was caught on video and the physical contact between Acosta and the intern was clearly evident.
Sadly, those images appear to have become a sort of Rorshach test, in which people look at the same thing and come away with different conclusions as to what they’ve seen.
In the end, CNN can gripe and moan all it wants, but White House press credentials aren’t a guaranteed constitutional right and it is entirely within the prerogative of the current administration as to who is granted the privilege of being a reporter welcomed inside the White House, as it has always been.
Perhaps if Acosta learned to control himself a little better, this wouldn’t be an issue and he may even regain the privilege of his hard pass in time.
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