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CNN sues President Trump for banning correspondent from the White House

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CNN filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration today after the White House banned reporter Jim Acosta following a fiery exchange with the US President.

The broadcaster is demanding that the White House return Acosta’s credentials, claiming the administration has harmed both its own and Acosta’s constitutional rights.

“While the suit is specific to CNN and Acosta, this could have happened to anyone,” CNN said.

“If left unchallenged, the actions of the White House would create a dangerous chilling effect for any journalist who covers our elected officials.”

The lawsuit names Trump, chief of staff John Kelly, his deputy William Shine and press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, as well as the director of the Secret Service, Randolph Alles.

The White House claims it revoked Acosta’s “hard pass” for unacceptable conduct, something Acosta strongly denies.

Sanders accused Acosta of placing his hands on an intern who attempted to take a microphone from the reporter when he tried to ask the President a question during a press conference on 7 November.

https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/1060333176252448768

“We wil … never tolerate a reporter placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern,” she wrote on Twitter.

Other reporters defended Acosta, saying he simply held onto the microphone.

Calling the ban a “severe and unprecedented punishment”, CNN argued it amounted to “an unabashed attempt to censor the press” if they disagree with Trump.

Sanders later shared a close-up clip of the encounter, but experts have claimed it has been doctored to change the speed of the recording.

CNN has asked the District Court of Columbia for an immediate restraining order that requires the White House to return Acosta’s pass, as well as “permanent relief”.