Politics

White House Stands By Revoking Jim Acosta’s Press Pass

REUTERS/Leah Millis

Saagar Enjeti White House Correspondent
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White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders is standing by the revocation of CNN reporter Jim Acosta’s press pass for refusing to give up his microphone to an intern tasked with passing it along, she said in a Thursday statement.

U.S. President Donald Trump holds a news conference at the White House in Washington, U.S. November 7, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

“The question is: did the reporter make contact or not? The video is clear, he did,” Sanders said. “We stand by our statement.”

Acosta’s pass was revoked Wednesday evening following a dispute with a White House intern during a presidential press conference. President Donald Trump repeatedly tried to move on from Acosta’s line of questioning to another reporter while an intern attempted to grab the microphone away from the CNN reporter.

CNN chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta sent a vulgar Twitter direct message to a former Trump White House staffer (MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

Sanders issued a statement Wednesday evening explaining the White House decision saying, “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.”

Acosta denies laying his hands on the intern and CNN is standing by his conduct.