The White House revoked CNN's Jim Acosta's credentials after a testy exchange with the President Donald Trump during a news conference last week. | Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images White House CNN sues Trump to get Jim Acosta's press pass restored The lawsuit marks a stark escalation in the president's feud with the media.

CNN on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump and top administration officials demanding that correspondent Jim Acosta’s access to the White House be restored, a dramatic turn in the president’s years-long battle with the press that sets up a court fight over the First Amendment.

"While the suit is specific to CNN and Acosta, this could have happened to anyone," CNN said in announcing the lawsuit, which asks for a restraining order requiring that Acosta’s security credentials be returned. "If left unchallenged, the actions of the White House would create a dangerous chilling effect for any journalist who covers our elected officials."


The White House revoked Acosta's credentials, known as a “hard pass,” several hours after a testy exchange with the president during a news conference last week. Trump told Acosta “CNN should be ashamed” for employing him during the back-and-forth, which included a White House staffer attempting to take the microphone out of Acosta’s hand.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed last week that Acosta’s pass was revoked due to the reporter “placing his hands on a young woman,” but any contact appeared incidental. CNN is arguing in its suit that the pass was pulled as retaliation for aggressive coverage of the president.

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“This severe and unprecedented punishment is the culmination of years of hostility by President Trump against CNN and Acosta based on the contents of their reporting — an unabashed attempt to censor the press and exclude reporters from the White House who challenge and dispute the President’s point of view,” read the complaint.

CNN argued in the complaint that Trump and White House staff violated Acosta's First and Fifth Amendment rights, and the network said it is seeking a declaration that taking away Acosta's credentials was unconstitutional.

In a lengthy statement on Tuesday, Sanders derided the suit as “more grandstanding from CNN” and said that the White House will “vigorously defend against this lawsuit.”

Sanders cited dozens of hard pass holders employed by CNN and said, “Mr. Acosta is no more or less special than any other media outlet or reporter with respect to the First Amendment.” Sanders described Acosta refusing to yield the mic to the press aide and alleged, “This was not the first time this reporter has inappropriately refused to yield to other reporters.”

She said, “The White House cannot run an orderly and fair press conference when a reporter acts this way, which is neither appropriate nor professional. The First Amendment is not served when a single reporter, of more than 150 present, attempts to monopolize the floor. If there is no check on this type of behavior it impedes the ability of the President, the White House staff, and members of the media to conduct business.”

The statement represented a stark shift from Sanders’ previous comments on the matter, which have focused on the contact between Acosta and the press aide, and not his desire to ask additional questions.

Sanders’ arguments about Acosta “placing his hands on” the aide have been widely dismissed and were further weakened when she posted what appeared to many to be an altered video of the incident, designed to make the contact look more significant than it was.

Trump said Friday that Acosta’s “a very unprofessional man” and insinuated the pass was pulled because he acted irreverently in the White House. The president warned “there could be” other journalists barred next.

In the suit, CNN’s lawyers wrote that “the only reasonable inference from Defendants’ conduct is that they have revoked Acosta’s credentials as a form of content- and viewpoint-based discrimination and in retaliation for Plaintiffs’ exercise of protected First Amendment activity.”

CNN said in its complaint that CEO Jeff Zucker asked White House chief of staff John Kelly to reinstate Acosta's "hard pass," which allows reporters to freely enter and exit the White House compound and travel on Air Force One. Zucker told Kelly that the incident was seen internally as "part of a 'pattern of targeted harassment'" against CNN, a favorite target of Trump's in his frequent battles against the news media.

White House officials told CNN and Acosta they did not intend to return his credentials, according to the complaint. The complaint also stated that administration officials had denied Acosta access to “daily passes,” effectively banning him from the White House grounds.

CNN sent Acosta to cover Trump's trip to Paris over the weekend, but the reporter was told he would not be allowed to cover events held by the president, including a planned visit to an American military cemetery that was ultimately canceled. Acosta was granted press credentials by the French government, but the Secret Service still refused him access to Trump's events, according to the complaint.

The White House Correspondents Association issued a statement Tuesday supporting CNN in challenging the White House.

“Revoking access to the White House complex amounted to disproportionate reaction to the events of last Wednesday. We continue to urge the Administration to reverse course and fully reinstate CNN’s correspondent,” the organization said in a statement. “The President of the United States should not be in the business of arbitrarily picking the men and women who cover him.”

The Radio Television Digital News Association and its Voice of the First Amendment Task Force also offered support Tuesday for CNN’s suit.

RTDNA Executive Director Dan Shelley called the Trump administration’s punishment of CNN and Acosta “outrageous and unacceptable” and “an unwarranted escalation of anti-First Amendment and press freedom rancor consistently used by this president and his acolytes.”

In addition to Trump, the suit named Sanders, Kelly, Deputy Chief of Staff Bill Shine and the Secret Service and its director Randolph Alles, as well as the Secret Service agent who revoked Acosta’s pass, listed as a “John Doe.”

Among CNN’s lawyers is Ted Olson, the former solicitor general under George W. Bush known for his role in major Supreme Court cases, including Bush. v. Gore, following the disputed 2000 election, and the overturning of California’s ban on same-sex marriage.

“The Supreme Court has held in no uncertain terms that the First Amendment protects ‘robust political debate,’ including ‘speech that is critical of those who hold public office,’” Olson said in a statement. “Mr. Acosta’s press credentials must be restored so that all members of the press know they will remain free to ask tough questions, challenge government officials, and report the business of the nation to the American people.”

