Washington: In an exclusive interview with Fox News’s Chris Wallace, United State President Donald Trump stated that restoration of press credential of CNN reporter Jim Acosta after White House had banned him from attending press briefings is not a big deal and added that he would be thrown out if he misbehaves again.
Trump further said that Federal Judge’s order for restoration of Acosta’s pass was “fine”. “They (judge) said we have to create rules and regulations for conduct in the White House,” he added.
“I think one of the things we’ll do is maybe turn the camera off that faces them, because then they don’t have any air time, although I’ll probably be sued for that and maybe, you know, win or lose it, who knows. I mean, with this stuff you never know what’s going to happen,” Trump said.
The White House had earlier stripped CNN’s chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta off his press credentials while accusing him of misconduct and unruly behaviour during a media briefing.
“Nobody believes in First Amendment more than I do. And if I think somebody is acting out of sorts, I will leave and I will say Thank you and I will leave,” Trump said while talking about any other instances of misconducts in the future.
However, the White House was on Friday ordered to temporarily restore the press credentials of Acosta by a federal judge.
CNN had on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against Trump and his associates, seeking an immediate restoration of the press credentials of Acosta. The lawsuit was a response to the White House’s suspension of Acosta’s press pass, known as a Secret Service “hard pass”, last week for an unspecified duration.
The revocation of Acosta’s press pass came after a verbal spat with the US President during a news conference last week.
CNN alleged that the removal of Acosta’s White House press pass constituted a violation of his First Amendment rights to freely report on the government. The American broadcaster also alleged that the administration had violated Acosta’s due process rights by revoking his credentials without warning.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]