White House's Ban Of CNN Reporter Following Confrontation Stirs Controversy
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- President Donald Trump obviously does not like CNN Chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta.
"CNN should be ashamed of itself having you working for them," the President told Acosta at the press conference. "You are a rude, terrible person. You shouldn't be working for CNN."
That was after Acosta was particularly aggressive in asking President Trump about calling the caravan in Mexico "invaders."
"Do you think that you demonized immigrants?" Costa asked President Trump in a number of different ways.
It's a long-standing feud between the two, which culminated in President Trump and White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders revoking Acosta's White House credentials.
In a video, Acosta tweeted, "I am in front of the White House. Secret Service officer is asking for my hard pass."
"Elected officials don't get to choose who covers them. That's not part of the deal," Andrew Conte, director of Point Park University's Center for Media Innovation, told KDKA political editor Jon Delano on Thursday.
Conte, who was an award-winning reporter for the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, says Acosta was doing his job.
"The president has only held three of these press conferences, so when you get a chance to ask the president a question, you're going to ask as many questions as you can," says Conte.
Banning a Secret Service-cleared journalist from the White House is extraordinary and unprecedented.
KDKA's Jon Delano has covered a number of politicians over the decades, and has never experienced a politician banning reporters because they don't like the questions that get asked.
Sanders justified the action by alleging the video shows Acosta assaulting an intern trying to take the microphone away, a claim rejected by Acosta.
"I was trying to hang on to the microphone so I could continue to ask the president questions," says Acosta. "Obviously, I didn't put my hands on her or touch her as they're alleging."
Critics of Sanders' claim she sent out a doctored video of the microphone incident that "sped up" part of the video to make it look like Acosta was doing a "hand chop" on the intern's arm.
Most news organizations are standing behind Acosta.
The White House Correspondents' Association called on the White House to "immediately reverse this weak and misguided action."
No word if and when that will happen.
