Fox News Stands With CNN in Lawsuit to Regain Acosta's Press Pass

We intend to file an amicus brief with the US District Court.

CNN filed a lawsuit against the president and a handful of his top aides on Tuesday, arguing that the revocation of Acosta's press pass was an infringement on his First Amendment rights of freedom of the press and the Fifth Amendment right to due process. President Nixon's battles with the news media were legendary, and much more recently President Obama had an openly antagonistic relationship with Fox News.

Acosta had his credential suspended last week, CNN reports, after a terse exchange with the president.

Kelly, a former chief counsel for the US Senate Judiciary Committee, was appointed to the bench by Trump previous year.

This, however, is the first time Fox News as a network has spoken out against Trump.

On Tuesday, the White House again re-cast its argument for stripping Acosta of his press pass, charging him with holding hostage a White House microphone.

The Trump White House isn't exactly known for its organization or process.

And they resurrected, by inference, that Acosta had acted improperly at the November 7 press conference, contending that he "was disrupting press proceedings", as "is evident from the video he has proffered".

During a press conference at White House last week, Trump berated Acosta when he challenged the president's assertion that a caravan of Central American migrants making its way on foot through Mexico to the US border represented an "invasion".

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"Whether the news of the day concerns national security, the economy, or the environment, reporters covering the White House must remain free to ask questions".

Among them are The Associated Press, Bloomberg, The Washington Post and, most surprisingly, Fox News, which announced its intent to file an amicus brief Wednesday.

Sanders later said Acosta's credentials had been revoked because he was depriving other reporters of the chance to ask questions. At one point, after bellowing "put down the mic", POTUS called the CNN correspondent a "rude, bad person" as Acosta refused to back down on questions he had for Trump.

CNN and Jim Acosta will have to wait until Thursday to find out if Judge Timothy J. Kelly will restore Acosta's White House credentials immediately.

"No journalist has a First Amendment right to enter the White House", the administration argued.

The White House has dismissed the complaint as "grandstanding" and vowed to "vigorously defend" its actions. "I think there's very little to be lost by pursuing this", said Douglas E. Mirell, a specialist in the First Amendment for Greenberg Glusker.

"We do not believe that revoking White House press credentials is an appropriate remedy for a disagreement the White House may have with a particular reporter", CBS News' statement said.

NEUBORNE: Yeah! If he wants a kept group of people that will just do whatever he wants then he can go to Fox, but if he wants to hold a real press conference where people hold his feet to the fire then he can't get petulant and say: Oh, I don't like those questions, get out of my White House! He persisted in questioning President Donald Trump, who lambasted the correspondent as a "rude, awful person".