White House Correspondents Association Slams Trump

CNN’s White House correspondent Jim Acosta had his press pass revoked temporarily after Press Secretary Sarah Sanders lied and said he assaulted an intern. The move brought immediate rebuke from the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA).

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Acosta said he was asking President Donald Trump questions about his racist caravan ad when the president grew irritated with his questions.

He posted the following information on Twitter:

“I’ve just been denied entrance to the WH. Secret Service just informed me I cannot enter the WH grounds for my 8pm hit.”

“The US Secret Service just asked for my credential to enter the WH. As I told the officer, I don’t blame him. I know he’s just doing his job. (Sorry this video is not rightside up)”

He later retweeted the statement from Sarah Sanders and said “This is a lie.”

On Wednesday, Acosta told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that Trump is trying to shut down the press. “It’s a test for all of us. They are trying to shut us down,” he said.

Also on Wednesday the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) issued a statement slamming the Trump administration for revoking Acosta’s press credentials and falsely accusing him of assaulting the female intern.

Oliver Knox, the organization’s president, wrote in the statement:

“The WHCA strongly objects to the Trump Administration’s decision to use US Secret Service Credentials as a tool to punish a reporter with whom it has a difficult relationship.”

“We acknowledge that reporters use a range of approaches to carry out their jobs and the WHCA does not police the tone or frequency of the questions its members ask of powerful senior government officials, including the President.”

“We urge the White House to immediately reverse this weak and misguided action.”

Knox went on to “encourage anyone with doubts that this reaction was disproportionate to the perceived offense to view the video of the events from earlier today.”

Statement from @whca president @OKnox

In an article yesterday about the Acosta incident my colleague Sean Colarossi correctly wrote:

“If there was anybody behaving inappropriately on Tuesday, it was the huffing and puffing man standing behind the podium with the presidential seal plastered on it.”

“At the end of the day, today’s incident showed that it’s Donald Trump – not a hardworking journalist – who should be denied entry into the White House.”

Once again Donald Trump, by trying to look strong, has succeeded only in making himself look weak and pathetic.

Leo Vidal

I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.