The White House is charging ahead in its attempt to revoke CNN reporter Jim Acosta’s press credential after a federal judge ordered it restored.
In a court filing Monday with the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., lawyers for CNN and Acosta said White House press secretary Sarah Sanders and White House communications director Bill Shine sent a letter to the correspondent informing him they revoked his “hard pass” access to White House grounds. The Trump administration officials cited his conduct at a contentious post-election press conference with President Trump this month.
The letter was sent just hours after U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee, ordered the White House to restore Acosta’s press pass for 14 days.
“Your behavior at the November 7 press conference violated the basic standards governing such events, and is, in our preliminary judgment, sufficient factual basis to revoke your hard pass,” Sanders and Shine wrote in their letter to Acosta, which was included in the filing.
The White House officials told Acosta they would “be pleased to consider any material you would like to submit in response to it.”
The letter from Sanders and Shine appears to be an attempt to address concerns highlighted by the judge in Acosta’s legal dispute with the White House. Kelly found that Acosta’s due process rights had been violated as the White House did not grant him a process to appeal its decision to revoke his hard pass, or provide him with notice of that decision.
Acosta was given until Sunday evening to contest the White House’s decision to strip him of his press credential.
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway told Fox News in an interview Monday morning she was unaware of the administration’s decision to moving forward with its efforts to revoke Acosta’s press pass.
“I am not aware of that,” she said. “I am not aware of anything happening in the last hour.”
In a statement, CNN accused the White House of “continuing to violate the First and 5th Amendments of the Constitution.”
“These actions threaten all journalists and news organizations,” the network said. “Jim Acosta and CNN will continue to report the news about the White House and the president.”
Acosta’s lawyers said in their filing that the White House was attempting to “provide retroactive due process” but said they “remain hopeful the parties can resolve this dispute without further court intervention.”
They also asked the court to schedule a hearing on a preliminary injunction next week.
