After the Trump administration suspended combative CNN reporter Jim Acosta’s White House credentials for “placing his hands on a young” female intern on Wednesday, Sen. Doug Jones (D-Mountain Brook) came to Acosta’s defense a day later.
“Freedom of the press was considered by our founding fathers of such importance that they made it 1st,” Jones tweeted.
Jones continued, “In America, we should not only applaud the tough questions- but strive to answer them honestly… & ensure the press is able to keep power in check. Without exception.”
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders outlined why Acosta had his credentials suspended in a series of tweets.
Her explanation as follows:
President 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. 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. 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 supporting a free press in the midst of him taking 68 questions from 35 different reporters over the course of 1.5 hours including several from the reporter in question. 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. As a result of today’s incident, the White House is suspending the hard pass of the reporter involved until further notice.
We stand by our decision to revoke this individual’s hard pass. We will not tolerate the inappropriate behavior clearly documented in this video. pic.twitter.com/T8X1Ng912y
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) November 8, 2018
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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