White House suspends press credentials of senior CNN journalist after spat with Trump
Washington, Nov 8: In an unprecedented move, the White House has suspended the credentials of a senior CNN journalist for his "disgusting and outrageous" behaviour, hours after he had a testy exchange with President Donald Trump during a marathon news conference.
The move came just hours after CNN's chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta drew the ire of Trump by persisting with questions about his views on a caravan of Central American migrants making its way to the US border and refused the president's orders to sit down, and clung to the microphone.
The removal of Acosta's pass is a sharp escalation of tensions between the Trump administration and the media.
At the news conference, which lasted 1 hour and 26 minutes, Trump snapped at the press corps, called reporters "rude" for asking questions, and made baseless claims about political polling.
Acosta was one of the first reporters Trump called on. "Thank you, Mr President," he said. "I want to challenge you on one of the statements that you made in the tail end of the campaign."
Trump leaned into the microphone and said, "Here we go" seemingly relishing the confrontation.
"As you know, Mr President, the caravan is not an invasion," Acosta said. "It's a group of migrants moving up from Central America towards the border with the US."
Trump, sarcastically, replied, "Thank you for telling me that, I appreciate it."
Acosta: "Why did you characterise it as such?"
"Because I consider it an invasion. You and I have a difference of opinion."
"But do you think that you demonised immigrants?"
"No, not at all. I want them to come into the country. But they have to come in legally," Trump said.
"That's what the migrants are trying to do they say they intend to seek asylum, Acosta said.
Acosta called out the misleading ad released by the Republican Party and said: "They're hundreds of miles away, though. They're hundreds and hundreds of miles away. That's not an invasion."
"You know what? I think you should," Trump started to say, pointing at Acosta. "Honestly, I think you should let me run the country. You run CNN. And if you did it well, your ratings would be much better."
"Okay, that's enough," a visibly angry Trump said as Acosta tried to ask another question. Then a White House intern unsuccessfully tried to take the microphone from the CNN correspondent.
Trump backed away from the podium for a moment, signalling he was done, while Acosta asked the question again and then let go of the microphone.
Defending Acosta, the CNN said the Trump administration's decision was "a threat to democracy".
Describing the journalist's behaviour as "disgusting and outrageous", White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, in a statement on Wednesday said, "As a result of today's incident, the White House is suspending the hard pass of the reporter involved until further notice."
Sanders said Trump believes in a free press and expects and welcomes tough questions of him and his administration.
"We will, however, never tolerate a reporter placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern. This conduct is absolutely unacceptable," she said, adding, "It is also completely disrespectful to the reporter's colleagues not to allow them an opportunity to ask a question".
Sanders claimed Trump has given the press more access than any president in history.
"Contrary to CNN's assertions, there is no greater demonstration of the president's support for a free press than the event he held today.
"Only they would attack the president for not being supportive of a free press in the midst of him taking 68 questions from 35 different reporters over the course of an hour and a half including several from the reporter in question," she said.
Meanwhile, CNN said the revocation of Acosta's pass "was done in retaliation for his challenging questions at today's press conference...This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country deserves better".
Acosta was stopped by the Secret Service from entering the White House at about 7 pm.
Former president of the White House Correspondents Association, Jeff Mason, refuted the White House accusation that Acosta placed his hand on a female White House intern.
"I was seated next to Acosta at today's press conference and did not witness him placing his hands on the young intern, as the White House alleges," he tweeted.
Mason, a Reuters correspondent, said Acosta held on to the microphone as the intern reached for it and later posted a few pictures from the press conference to prove his point.
Peter Baker from The New York Times, who has been covering the White House for 22 years, said, "This is something I have never seen since I started covering the White House in 1996. Other presidents did not fear tough questioning."
The White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) also said such a decision is "unacceptable" and urged the White House that it "immediately reverse its decision".
The White House, meanwhile, said it stands by its decision.
"We stand by our decision to revoke this individual's hard pass. We will not tolerate the inappropriate behaviour clearly documented in this video," Sanders said, posting a video of the CNN reporter allegedly placing his hand on a young woman.
"The question is: did the reporter make contact or not? The video is clear, he did. We stand by our statement," she said.
The President berated two highly respected journalists and publicly calls CNN the enemy of the people.
— Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@MuslimIQ) November 7, 2018
All this just weeks after a journalist was brutally killed & a 45 supporter sent 13 bombs to public officials and CNN
Where is the accountability?pic.twitter.com/Uy2TYWCiQj
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Strict security measures in place in Mumbai for Messi's events at 2 venues Dec 14, say police
Mumbai (PTI): In view of Argentine superstar footballer Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai on Sunday, the city police are implementing stringent security measures, like not allowing water bottles, metals, coins inside the stadiums and setting up watchtowers to keep an eye on the crowd, officials said.
The police also said taking extra care to avoid any stampede-like situation and to prevent recurrence of the chaotic situation that unfolded in Kolkata during Messi's visit on Saturday as thousands of fans protested inside the Salt Lake stadium here after failing to catch a clear glimpse of the football icon despite paying hefty sums for tickets.
Messi is expected to be present at the Cricket Club of India (Brabourne Stadium) in Mumbai on Sunday for a Padel GOAT Cup event followed by attending a celebrity football match. He is expected to proceed to the Wankhede Stadium for the GOAT India Tour main event around 5 pm.
"In view of Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai, the police are geared up and have put in place a high level of security arrangements in and around the stadiums located in south Mumbai. Considering the chaos that prevailed in Kolkata and the security breach, we have deployed World Cup-level security arrangements at Brabourne and Wankhede stadiums," an official said.
Expecting heavy crowd near the stadiums during Messi's visit, the city police force has deployed more than 2,000 of its personnel near and around both the venues, he said.
As the Mumbai police have the experience of security 'bandobast' during the victory parade of ICC World Cup-winning Indian team and World Cup final match at the Wankhede Stadium, in which over one lakh cricket fans had gathered, we are prepared to handle a large crowd of fans, he said.
"We are trying to avoid the errors that occurred in the past," the official said.
There is no place to sneak inside the stadiums in Mumbai like the Kolkata stadium, according to him.
The police are also asking the organisers to provide all the required facilities to the fans inside the stadium, so that there will be no chaos, he said, adding the spectators have purchased tickets in the range of Rs 5,000 to 25,000. After paying so much of amount, any spectator expects proper services, while enjoying the event, he said.
The police are expecting 33,000 spectators at the Wankhede Stadium and over 4,000 at Brabourne Stadium. Besides this, more than 30,000 people are expected outside and around the stadiums just to have a glimpse of the football sensation, he said.
The organisers responsible for Messi's India visit recently came to Mumbai to discuss security arrangements. During the meeting, the Mumbai police asked them not to take the event lightly, according to the official.
After those requirements were fulfilled, the final security deployment was chalked out, he said.
Police has the standard procedure of the security arrangements inside the Wankhede Stadium, where people are barred from taking water bottles, metals objects, coins. Police are setting up watch towers near the stadiums and there will be traffic diversions, so that there is maximum space available to stand, according to the official.
Police are also appealing to the spectators to use public transport service for commuting and avoid personal vehicles to reach south Mumbai.
To avoid any stampede-like situation, police are also taking precautionary measures and will stop the fans some distance ahead of the stadium and public announcement systems will be used to guide the crowd. Barricades will be placed at various places to manage the crowd.
In case the crowd swells up beyond expectation, the police will divert people to other grounds and preparations in this regard underway, he said.
Additional police force has been deployed in south Mumbai to tackle any kind of situation, he said.
