The White House on Wednesday suspended the press pass of a CNN reporter who earlier sparred with Donald Trump at a news conference, in which the US president branded the journalist an “enemy of the people.”
A visibly angry Trump had called reporter Jim Acosta a “rude, terrible person,” after the CNN White House correspondent refused the president’s orders to sit down and give up the microphone during the conference one day after the US midterm vote.
“The White House is suspending the hard pass of the reporter involved until further notice,” said White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders hours later, referring to Acosta, who then tweeted that he had been denied White House entry.
The heated exchange began after the prominent journalist clung to the microphone and persisted with questions about the president’s views on a caravan of Central American migrants making its way to the US border.
Trump said “that’s enough!” and a White House intern unsuccessfully tried to take the microphone from the CNN journalist.
“President Trump believes in a free press and expects and welcomes tough questions of him and his Administration,” Sanders said in her statement. Read more