CNN sues President Trump, his White House aides over barring of reporter
Washington, Nov 13: CNN Tuesday said it has filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump and several of his top aides, seeking the immediate restoration of the network's correspondent Jim Acosta's press pass to the White House which was suspended following a testy exchange with the US president.
During a White House press conference last Wednesday, Acosta challenged Trump's use of the word "invasion" to describe a migrant caravan heading to the US from Central America.
When Acosta tried to ask a question about the Russia investigation into alleged interference in the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump told him repeatedly "that's enough" and "put down the mic".
Hours after the encounter, seen across the world, the White House, in an unprecedented move, suspended Acosta's press pass, known as a Secret Service "hard pass."
White House Press secretary Sarah Huckerbee Sanders said access was removed because he had put "his hands on a young woman".
Acosta has denied the allegations. White House insisted that its charges against Acosta were correct.
In a statement on Tuesday, CNN said it is seeking a preliminary injunction as soon as possible so that Acosta, the chief White House correspondent, can return to the presidential mansion right away, and a ruling from the court preventing the White House from revoking Acosta's pass in the future.
The suit alleges that Acosta and CNN's First and Fifth Amendment rights are being violated by the ban.
The suit is being filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday morning, a CNN spokeswoman said.
Both CNN and Acosta are plaintiffs in the lawsuit. There are six defendants: President Trump, chief of staff John Kelly, press secretary Sarah Sanders, deputy chief of staff for communications Bill Shine, Secret Service director Joseph Clancy, and the Secret Service officer who took Acosta's hard pass away last Wednesday. The officer is identified as John Doe in the suit, pending his identification.
The six defendants are all named because of their roles in enforcing and announcing Acosta's suspension, CNN reported.
On Friday, CNN sent a letter to the White House formally requesting the immediate reinstatement of Acosta's pass and warning of a possible lawsuit, the network confirmed.
The White House Correspondents Association President Olivier Knox in a statement "strongly" supported CNN's goal of seeing their correspondent regain a US Secret Service security credential that the White House "should not have taken away" in the first place.
"Revoking access to the White House complex amounted to disproportionate reaction to the events of last Wednesday. We continue to urge the Administration to reverse course and fully reinstate CNN's correspondent," Knox said.
The President of the United States should not be in the "business of arbitrarily picking" the men and women who cover him, he said.
Trump's combative relationship with the media deteriorated further last Wednesday with a news conference where he called some reporters rude and accused a PBS reporter of posing a racist question when she asked him about white nationalists.
"It's such a hostile media," Trump said during his post-midterm election news conference at the White House, after ordering reporter April Ryan of the American Urban Radio Networks to sit down when she tried to ask him a question.
The president complained that the media, while reporting "fake news", did not cover the booming economy and was responsible for much of the country's divided politics. He said that "I can do something fantastic, and they make it look not good.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
