It’s official!

After his failed appeal, the White House suspended Playboy journo and CNN analyst Brian Karem’s hard pass for 30 days over his confrontation with Sebastian Gorka in the Rose Garden earlier this summer:

Just received word from the WH – finalized my hard pass suspension for 30 days – according to their letter – part of it because they think I do a bad Rodney Dangerfield impersonation. We will now go to court and sue. @BoutrousTed @realDonaldTrump — Brian J. Karem (@BrianKarem) August 16, 2019

Next step? Federal court:

Today, @PressSec unjustly suspended the hard pass of our White House correspondent, @BrianKarem, for 30 days. We stand with Mr. Karem and, incoordination with @BoutrousTed, will fight back against this unconstitutional restriction on the free press in federal court. — Playboy (@Playboy) August 16, 2019

Ted Boutrous, Karem’s lawyer, accused the White House of violating his client’s First and Fifth Amendment’s rights:

This suspension of @Playboy White House correspondent @BrianKarem’s hard pass violates both the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment. https://t.co/AaKuvL7QfN — Ted Boutrous (@BoutrousTed) August 16, 2019

Of note, Boutros was Jim Acosta’s lawyer when the White House was unsuccessful at revoking his hard pass:

To wit: Last November, the White House revoked the hard-pass credentials of CNN chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta, for whimsical reasons that withered in a federal court hearing. A federal judge soon ruled that CNN would likely prevail in its arguments that the stripping of the hard pass violated his due-process rights. Access restored! The rebuke from U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly came quickly and unequivocally. Footage of Acosta entering the White House grounds with his hard pass circulated everywhere. It was a big embarrassment for President Trump and his colleagues.

But with Karem, we have video evidence that he behaved badly. Will the court rule the same way? More from Boutros here:

Here is my statement regarding @PressSec’s unconstitutional suspension of @Playboy White House correspondent @BrianKarem’s hard passhttps://t.co/JqB4G7w5oL. Thread below of text. — Ted Boutrous (@BoutrousTed) August 16, 2019

. . . that President Trump doesn’t like. The President and his administration are fostering an atmosphere of hostility and violence towards journalists that cannot be tolerated and they are illegally using the credential process to stifle freedom of the press and . . . — Ted Boutrous (@BoutrousTed) August 16, 2019

. . . to disrupt the flow of vital information to the American people. We intend to seek immediate relief in federal court.” End — Ted Boutrous (@BoutrousTed) August 16, 2019

See you in court.

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Related:

Brian Karem's statement to the White House on the Gorka incident at odds with what we all saw on the video https://t.co/0NfkF2uDNX — Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) August 14, 2019

Playboy’s Brian Karem thinks Seb Gorka should have been the one banned from the WH (Gorka tells Karem how to get his pass back) https://t.co/F7sRgkwOYu — Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) August 3, 2019