Not exactly sure what took so long on this but the White House has finally suspended the “hard pass” press credential for CNN narrative engineer Jim Acosta following his rude behavior and physical confrontation with a White House intern earlier today.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders released the following statement:

“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.”

“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.”