The Trump administration has pulled CNN reporter Jim Acosta's press credentials after a heated exchange with Trump during a press conference on Wednesday. Acosta found out when the Secret Service blocked his entry.
Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed Acosta's credentials had been revoked, stating "We will never tolerate a reporter placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern." Acosta appeared to push the woman's arm down as she tried to take the microphone away from him while he was haranguing the president.
Contradicting a widely-seen video of the incident, CNN claims Acosta never touched the intern and called the revocation of his pass a "threat to democracy."
There is some confusion as to whether the force seen in the video comes from Acosta pushing the intern's arm down or her pulling the mic from him. The reporter is clearly seen touching the woman's arm, though.
Social media has predictably erupted in a frenzy, while CNN president Jeff Zucker reportedly tried to reassure Acosta's colleagues with a memo that read in part that Trump’s “ongoing attacks on the press have gone too far” and “are disturbingly un-American.” Acosta's canonization as Patron Saint of the Resistance is pending.
Trump and Acosta sparred during a press conference earlier Wednesday that culminated in Trump telling the reporter, "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." When an intern tried to take the mic from Acosta to let the next reporter ask a question, he continued needling the president, who finally called him a "rude, terrible person."
Conservatives cheered the administration's decision to bounce Acosta, who never misses an opportunity to attack the president.