Fox News' support of CNN means it is aligned with a news network President Donald Trump has long criticized. | Mary Altaffer/AP photo Trump's relationship with Fox News starts to show cracks The network backed CNN over White House access, just the latest sign of distance between Fox and the president.

Fox News said Wednesday it would back CNN in its lawsuit to restore reporter Jim Acosta's press credentials after the White House revoked them last week — the latest move by President Donald Trump's favorite news organization to distance itself from him in recent weeks.

"Secret Service passes for White House journalists should never be weaponized," Fox News President Jay Wallace said in a statement. "While we don't condone the growing antagonistic tone by both the President and the press at recent media avails, we do support a free press, access and open exchanges for the American people."


The decision aligned a news network that Trump frequently quotes with one he has long criticized. Acosta's access was revoked after he argued with Trump during a press conference and briefly refused to give up the microphone when a White House aide tried to pull it from his hand. CNN on Tuesday filed a lawsuit claiming that the White House and Trump's actions were unconstitutional.

Fox News also signed onto a statement released by a group of news outlets, including POLITICO, saying that the organizations "support the fundamental constitutional right to question this President, or any President" and will file "friend-of-the-court briefs to support CNN’s and Jim Acosta’s lawsuit."

The outlet has often been exempt from Trump's harsh rhetoric towards the media, which he often calls "fake news." The president has called into "Fox and Friends" several times, granting them at times nearly 40-minute interviews. The coziness between the president and the network was also underscored this summer when Trump hired former Fox News executive Bill Shine to lead his communications team. And Trump has given exclusive interviews to Fox News hosts Sean Hannity and Jeanine Pirro, who joined him on stage at a rally leading up to the midterm elections.

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But the network has made several moves in recent weeks to distance itself. Fox News was quick to condemn the two hosts for appearing to campaign with Trump, especially after Hannity had pledged to not take the stage with the president.

“FOX News does not condone any talent participating in campaign events,” a Fox News spokesperson said in a statement at the time. “This was an unfortunate distraction and has been addressed.”

And earlier this month, Fox News pulled an immigration ad put out by the White House, which other networks had labeled as racist. Nonetheless, the network's coverage of immigration still tended to align with Trump's interests — Fox News devoted significant air time to a caravan of migrants heading through Mexico in hopes of seeking asylum in the U.S.

In the dispute with CNN, the White House said in a legal filing Wednesday that Trump has "broad discretion" in regards to access by journalists to the White House and that Acosta's conduct during the press conference justified its reaction.

"The President and White House possess the same broad discretion to regulate access to the White House for journalists (and other members of the public) that they possess to select which journalists receive interviews, or which journalists they acknowledge at press conferences," the White House said in its response. "No journalist has a First Amendment right to enter the White House."

