‘The View’ co-host suggests CNN’s Acosta sue Trump: ‘They defamed him’

A co-host of ABC’s “The View” suggested Friday that CNN chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta should sue President Trump for defamation after the White House sent out an altered tape of an interaction between Acosta and an intern at a press conference last week.

Co-host Sunny Hostin, a former CNN legal analyst, floated the idea after a federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to reinstate press credentials for Acosta. While the judge in the case said Acosta’s Fifth Amendment rights to due process were violated, he did not issue a ruling on whether the reporter’s First Amendment rights were violated.  

“I think that’s why you saw so many news outlets support CNN and support Jim because they’re thinking, ‘What if this happens to my White House correspondent?’ I think the judge was pretty clear in asking the questions. The judge really reviewed both sides, both arguments,” Hostin said.{mosads}

“But as I said the other day, what was most surprising to me is that the White House sent out that doctored tape and then said that Jim Acosta, you know, assaulted this girl, and that argument never comes up in front of that federal judge. That was such a disingenuous argument,” she continued.

“They defamed Jim Acosta! They defamed him,” she said. “Maybe he should sue the president.”  

Hostin, a staunch Trump critic who has called him an “illegitimate” president in the past, was referring to a video White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders shared on social media last week that zooms in on the moment Acosta’s hand brushed against the intern’s arm as she attempted to take away the microphone during the press conference. Several reporters argued the video was sped up to make the contact look more aggressive.

The White House originally cited the incident as the reason for revoking Acosta’s press pass, but later decided to drop that argument for the revocation before court. 

“The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg agreed with Hostin on Friday.

“The judge said you can’t do that and that’s what’s important,” Goldberg said. “They can continue to do and conduct business as they wish, and I’m sure they will. But you can’t poop on the Constitution.”

Trump said to reporters in the Oval Office after the ruling was handed down that standards are being set per the court’s ruling Friday. 

“We have to practice decorum,” Trump said. “So we’re setting up a certain standard, which is what the court is requesting.” 

The president cautioned that if the press doesn’t abide by the new standards set, “we’ll end up back in court and we’ll win.“