Trump suspends Jim Acosta’s press credentials, accuses him of ‘placing his hands’ on a female White House aide

In the wake of a heated exchange with President Trump during a White House press conference this morning, reports are coming in saying that CNN reporter Jim Acosta has had his White House press credentials suspended.

In a tweet fired off just minutes ago as of this writing, Acosta said he was denied entrance to the White House.

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

In a series of tweets, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that the White House is “suspending the hard pass” of a reporter, but did not identify Acosta by name. According to Huckabee, the pass was suspended due to “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,” Huckabee tweeted. “It is also completely disrespectful to the reporter’s colleagues not to allow them an opportunity to ask a question. President Trump has given the press more access than any President in history.”

Sanders is presumably referring to a moment during the press conference where a female aide tried to take the microphone away from Acosta as he was questioning the president, but there’s no indication in any of the news footage of the incident that Acosta inappropriately placed his hands on the woman.

“The fact that CNN is proud of the way their employee behaved is not only disgusting, it‘s an example of their outrageous disregard for everyone, including young women, who work in this Administration,” Sanders continued. “As a result of today’s incident, the White House is suspending the hard pass of the reporter involved until further notice.”

Acosta called the accusation a lie.

The moment in question can be seen at about the 0:25 mark of the video below:

This is a developing story and this article will be updated as more information becomes available.

Featured image via screen grab

Sky Palma

Before launching DeadState back in 2012, Sky Palma has been blogging about politics, social issues and religion for over a decade. He lives in Los Angeles and also enjoys Brazilian jiu jitsu, chess, music and art.