Media company CNN filed a lawsuit against the US President Trump and several of his aides on Tuesday, 13 November.
The lawsuit comes after CNN’s Jim Acosta’s access press pass was suspended by the White House last week. The media house seeks immediate restoration of the access.
Both CNN and Acosta filed the suit in US District Court in Washington, DC.
According to the CNN, the White House Correspondents' Association said it "strongly supports CNN's goal of seeing their correspondent regain a US Secret Service security credential that the White House should not have taken away in the first place."
The media house also pointed that other news organisations could also be targeted by the Trump administration this way in the future.
WHAT IS THE LAWSUIT ABOUT?
According to the suit filed by CNN, the ban imposed by the White House violates Acosta and the media house’s First and Fifth Amendment rights.
Donald Trump is among the six defendants in the suit, along with chief of staff John Kelly, press secretary Sarah Sanders, deputy chief of staff for communications Bill Shine, the director of the Secret Service, and the Secret Service officer.
After Acosta’s pass was suspended, CNN and many other journalism advocacy groups demanded reinstation of the pass.
CNN on Friday, 9 November, wrote a letter to the White House requesting the immediate reinstatement of Acosta’s pass. It also warned of a possible lawsuit.
According to the CNN, the media house released a statement on Tuesday, 13 November, saying “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. We have asked this court for an immediate restraining order requiring the pass be returned to Jim, and will seek permanent relief as part of this process.”
WHAT IS THE CONTROVERSY?
Acosta, who is the chief White House correspondent, was denied entry into the the White House on Wednesday, 7 November, and press secretary Sarah Sanders backed the decision by stating Acosta’s behaviour at a presidential news conference was inappropriate.
This followed after Acosta asked Trump about the caravan of migrants heading from Latin America to the southern US border during a news conference.
Trump had replied with “That’s enough!” when Acosta tried to follow up with another question. During this, a female White House aide unsuccessfully tried to grab the microphone from Acosta, which Sanders termed ‘inappropriate behaviour’ on part of Acosta.
Sanders later released a statement calling Acosta’s behaviour “unacceptable”. She accused Acosta of “placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern.”
WHAT ACOSTA SAID
Acosta’s interaction with the intern was brief, and in the video, Acosta appeared to brush her arm as she reached for the microphone and he tried to hold on to it. He told her "Pardon me, ma'am,".
Acosta later tweeted that Sanders' statement was “a lie”. He also posted a video on Twitter of him handing over his White House press pass to a Secret Service guard.
(With inputs from CNN)
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