Posted on 11/16/2018 11:08:59 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
The administration is drawing up rules for White House reporters' behavior, and the president said if journalists don't follow them, 'we'll end up back in court, and we'll win.'
CNN and Jim Acosta may have won their battle with the White House in court on Friday, but President Donald Trump has found a new weapon in his long war against the media.
After a judge ruled that the White House violated the CNN correspondent’s right to due process by stripping him of his press badge, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared that the administration was drawing up new rules to govern reporters’ behavior — and a process for booting them if those rules are broken.
“We have to create rules and regulations for conduct,” Trump told Chris Wallace in a Fox News Sunday interview, echoing Sanders’ announcement. “It's not a big deal. If he misbehaves, we'll throw him out or we’ll stop the news conference.”
"If they don't listen to the rules and regulations," he told reporters at a separate event at the White House, "we'll end up back in court, and we'll win."
To reporters, the threatened new rules — which one person close to the White House said were in the works before the court ruling Friday — represent another obstacle to covering Trump, who views his battle with the media as an unambiguous positive with his conservative base. It was Trump and Sanders, after all, who escalated the Acosta situation after a dispute at a news conference by yanking his press pass and, to justify it, pointing to an apparently altered video of his interaction with a White House aide. Now, future legal encounters appear certain, as journalists deemed to have broken the rules are also likely to take the administration to court.
The situation is akin to having a “sword hanging over our heads,” said New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker. “It leaves this idea that they are going to be the judge of who gets to cover them based on some probably arbitrary criteria that they will be the only ones to determine.”
He added, “The idea that suddenly you’re going to try to determine who is polite enough to ask the president questions is just kind of ridiculous.”
White House Correspondents’ Association president Olivier Knox said Friday afternoon that the White House had not reached out to him for input on any new rules for reporter behavior.
“As the organization that defends the interest of a free and independent news media at the White House, we have our role to play, but what that role will be, I don’t know yet,” he said.
The White House might see political victory in battling the media, but the court ruling Friday was a legal win for CNN, long a favorite target of Trump's. Federal Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee, ruled that the administration had denied Acosta due process in revoking his security pass, citing shifting White House explanations, no clear process, no advance notification to Acosta and no chance for him to rebut the allegations. Kelly ordered the White House to return Acosta’s credential on a temporary basis, while the rest of the case moves forward.
The White House did not reply to questions Friday about whether it would continue fighting Acosta and CNN in court. But Trump has kept up a confrontational stance with reporters in the past two weeks.
He berated CNN's Abby Phillip for asking a “stupid question,” after she asked whether he wanted acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker to rein in the Russia investigation. And at the same news conference in which he tussled with Acosta, Trump accused Yamiche Alcindor of "PBS NewsHour" of asking a “racist question” when she brought up his use of the phrase “nationalist” and its links to white nationalism.
“Acosta is one thing, but I think they tip their hand by going after people like Abby Phillip and going after Yamiche Alcindor, who have done nothing but show how professional they are,” Baker said. “This is meant to intimidate.”
Trump's frustration with relatively straightforward questions such as those will almost certainly lead reporters to wonder whether they are being targeted for their coverage, not their behavior.
CNN has argued that was the case with Acosta, alleging that the White House yanked his hard pass — which allows reporters to freely enter and exit the grounds — because it was attempting to stifle coverage it disliked, in violation of the First Amendment. But Kelly did not address that in his ruling, saying only that Acosta's due process rights were clearly violated.
Now, the administration says it's creating a process for banning reporters who do not show “decorum” at events.
In excerpts of the Fox News interview — which will air in full Sunday — Wallace asked Trump what the rules for reporters should be. "You can't keep asking questions," the president replied. "We had a lot of reporters in that room, many, many reporters in that room, and they were unable to ask questions because this guy gets up and starts ... just shouting out questions. And making statements, too."
Trump added, “But I will say this: Nobody believes in the First Amendment more than I do. And if I think somebody is acting out of sorts, I will leave and say, 'Thank you very much. Thanks for coming.' And I'll leave. Those reporters will not be too friendly to whoever it is that's acting up.”
The White House will have broad discretion in formulating rules for reporters’ behavior, so long as none of them discriminate against anyone based on their views or coverage, said Katie Fallow, a senior attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University.
“The fight will likely be over how they’re applied,” she said.
Once the new rules are established, the White House likely would not be able to kick out Acosta, or anyone else, for past offenses, said Nathan Siegel, a First Amendment lawyer with Davis Wright Tremaine who previously served as in-house counsel for ABC.
“Probably the biggest question is whether it will use those rules to try to eject reporters, whether it’s Acosta or others, in the future,” Siegel said.
He said any reporter ejected from the White House under the new rules and procedures would be able to challenge them in court. The result could be an ongoing carousel of legal fights between Trump and the press — something the president seems to relish.
In the case of Acosta, Baker said the White House has an easy solution before it.
“If they really think that Jim Acosta is too rude, don’t call on him,” he said. “They want what’s happening right now. They want to be in a war with us.”
If the reporters would stop with the “Gotcha” questions and stop Grandstanding, press conferences would be more informative but they hate President Trump and his administration so the war will continue. If things get out-of-hand, just stop the press conference and walk away.
The courts have absolutely no say in this matter.
There is no law that requires the Executive Branch to accommodate the media on the grounds of the White House.
Not ONE.
It is a privilege built on tradition and the relationship is supposed to help both the Executive Branch and the media get their messages out.
The privilege is being abused and Trump was right to kick Acosta to the curb.
Trump needs to fire his lawyers for leading him down the litigation rabbit hole, and in the process form a new layer of extra-legal precedents that should not be.
The video was not altered. I happened to see the event in real time and thought the Secret Service would rush in and throw him out when he pushed away the woman.
Judge Kelly is wrong. A press pass is a privilege, not a right.
Yes, we did see it live. Yes, it did happen. Yes, Asscosta is every bit as rude as Trump says he is.
Trump and Sarah shouldn’t call on anyone from CNN after this. They shouldn’t call on anyone sitting within 6 chairs of Asscosta. Make him a pariah. If he starts screaming about it, and he will, give him one warning. If he still screams, and he will, have him escorted out by a cute little female minority intern. If he touches her, and he will, BAM! he and CNN are finished forever.
Trump has twitter.
Congress shall make no law...
The founding fathers were brilliant making three separate branches of government. Who’s this little pipsqueak judge to say who POTUS invites into the WH?
The pipsqueak judge was appointed by Trump. I want to know who keeps giving him bad advice.
Getting closer ... Actually, the real deep state are the financial/media conglomerates who set the leftist agenda and control politicians and bureaucrats. It's sort of amazing that at a so-called conservative forum, people seem to be ignorant of Jefferson's warning(s):
https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertlenzner/2011/11/06/thomas-jefferson-warned-the-nation-about-the-power-of-the-banks/#474d74ce2b18
We are witnessing firsthand the very fruition of what the founders' warned about. By diluting the vote and expanding the franchise, the satanic conglomerates can influence LIVs, and then engage in actual vote fraud by controlling the resulting media narrative to where they are the victims.
Just leak a draft executive order giving press access to in camera judicial conferences. If the judges can tell the executive who can and can’t get into restricted spaces, then the executive should be able to do the same to the judiciary.
And if someone can be held in Contempt of Court and Contempt of Congress, they should be able to be held in Contempt of the President.
Reporters report the facts.
Journalists are nothing but little 12 year old girls who write their imagined version of their lives in their diaries.
Dear Diary, Trump was sooooo mean to me today!!!!! He kicked me out of the press room. How could he?!? He’s such a big meanie!!!!!! Just watch, I’m going to get him good. Signed, Jimmy.
Wrong. Now the adherence to the rules will be challenged.
The best thing to do is not play the “let’s challenge every exec decision in court to slow things down” game.
They should’ve told the court to go f themselves.
“If Acosta misbehaves—don’t call on him”
Whoever thinks that certainly has not watched various press meetings where Acosta is bellowing & interrupting other reporters. He is totally out of control.
Don’t CALL ON HIM ???
There are many video clips of him yelling out when he has NOT been called on.
Acosta needs a permanent time out.
He would be thrown off my property if not worse.
When the lame stream fake news media ask questions meant to reinforce a narrative or hurl a slur, such as:
-When did you stop beating your wife.
-When Abby Phillip is asking a “stupid question,” such as asking whether he wanted acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker to rein in the Russia collusion delusion.
-And Yamiche Alcindor of “PBS NewsHour” asks a “racist question” such as “nationalist” = white nationalism.
Then, you have every right to call out that nonsense and scold the person asking the question.
Let the reporters pick a number out of a hat when they enter the room. Sarah/Trump can have a list of the numbers and just call a number. Give them 2 questions each and move on.
I was thinking two mics. When a reporter asks his/her question cut their mic and hand mic two to another reporter.
That’s an excellent remedy.
Judge Kelly didn’t have a choice. District of Columbia Appeals Court in 1977 decision, Sherrill v. H Knight, made it the only correct decision for that District Court judge.
yeah, we watched it live too ... it’s almost beyond belief that the media keeps repeating what they know is patently false ... we’ve finally moved into true “1984” territory in which the Ministry of Truth has promulgated so much fake news that no one knows what to believe anymore and therefore the media feels that they are now in a position to convince a large percentage of the population that stuff that we can verify with their own eyes is actually false ...
The President, and the Executive branch, are not part of Congress.
They can make any regulation they want.
Rile #1. Stand on one leg, quack like a Duck, pat the top of your head and rub your Tummy at the same time and the POTUS may call on you.
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