White House agrees to ‘temporarily reinstate’ Acosta’s press pass

The White House said Friday it will abide by a federal judge’s order to restore CNN reporter Jim Acosta’s press pass, but insisted “there must be decorum at the White House.”

 

In a statement, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said President Trump’s staff “will also further develop rules and processes to ensure fair and orderly press conferences in the future.”

 

{mosads}“In response to the court, we will temporarily reinstate the reporter’s hard pass,” said Sanders. 

 

The spokeswoman, however, claimed partial victory by saying the federal judge “made clear that there is no absolute First Amendment right to access the White House.” 

 

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly did not rule on whether the Trump administration violated Acosta’s First Amendment rights by suspending his press credentials, the central claim of CNN’s lawsuit. 

 

Kelly ordered Acosta’s press pass be reinstated while he rules on the underlying lawsuit.

 

The judge said the network is likely to succeed in arguing the reporter’s Fifth Amendment rights to due process were violated by the White House when it suspended Acosta’s credentials after a contentious exchange with President Trump. 

 

In a statement, White House Correspondents’ Association President Olivier Knox lauded the decision.

“The White House Correspondents’ Association welcomes today’s ruling, in which a federal judge made it clear that the White House cannot arbitrarily revoke a White House press pass,” Knox wrote. “We thank all of the news outlets and individual reporters who stood up in recent days for the vital role a free and independent news media plays in our republic.”