Donald Trump has banned a CNN reporter from stepping foot inside the White House after an interview turned into a shouting match.
Jim Acosta, who works as CNN’s chief White House correspondent, had his long-term pass into the house revoked by a Secret Service agent, who refused his entry to the grounds on Wednesday evening (November 7).
On Wednesday afternoon the reporter got into a heated argument with the President as he tried to raise a question about Trump’s description of the migrant caravan as an ‘invasion’.
The caravan consists of thousands of Central American migrants heading towards the Mexico-US border.
During the interview, the POTUS told Acosta to ‘sit down’, and a female member of staff attempted to take the microphone away from the journalist and pass it to another reporter.
However, Acosta pulled back from the staff member in an attempt to hold on to the microphone.
The reporter tried to move on to another question about the Russia investigation, but Trump attempted to stop him in his tracks by saying ‘that’s enough!’
The President added:
CNN should be ashamed of itself having you work for them. You are a rude terrible person. You shouldn’t be working for CNN.
When you report fake news, which CNN does a lot, you are the enemy of the people.
Following his refusal to be allowed access into the White House, Acosta tweeted about the situation, sharing a video of the Secret Service agent asking for his credentials.
The reporter wrote:
I’ve just been denied entrance to the WH. Secret Service just informed me I cannot enter the WH grounds for my 8pm hit. [sic]
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders explained how Acosta’s pass had been suspended until further notice in a series of tweets about the situation.
She wrote:
President Trump believes in a free press and expects and welcomes tough questions of him and his Administration.
We will, however, never tolerate a reporter placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern…
This conduct is absolutely unacceptable. It is also completely disrespectful to the reporter’s colleagues not to allow them an opportunity to ask a question.
President Trump has given the press more access than any President in history.
Her tweets continued:
Contrary to CNN’s assertions there is no greater demonstration of the President’s support for a free press than the event he held today.
Only they would attack the President for not supporting a free press in the midst of him taking 68 questions from 35 different reporters…
…over the course of 1.5 hours including several from the reporter in question. The fact that CNN is proud of the way their employee behaved is not only disgusting, it‘s an example of their outrageous disregard for everyone, including young women, who work in this Administration.
As a result of today’s incident, the White House is suspending the hard pass of the reporter involved until further notice.
CNN showed support for their employee and accused Sanders of lying about the nature of the confrontation between Acosta and the female intern in a statement, writing:
She provided fraudulent accusations and cited an incident that never happened.
This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country deserves better.
Jim Acosta has our full support.
Check out the tweet below showing the incident:
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.