monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

Donald Trump sought Wednesday to land a massive blow in his long-fought battle against the news media, with administration lawyers asserting in court that the president could bar “all reporters” from the White House complex for any reason he sees fit.

The sweeping claim, which came in the first public hearing over CNN’s lawsuit to restore correspondent Jim Acosta’s White House credentials, could have a dramatic impact on news organizations’ access to government officials if it is upheld in court.

CNN argued in its lawsuit filed Tuesday that the White House infringed on Acosta's First Amendment rights by revoking his access in response to a dispute over a press conference last week.

But Trump’s lawyers replied Wednesday in a legal filing that he has “broad discretion” to police journalists’ access to the White House.

“If the president wants to exclude all reporters from the White House grounds, he has the authority to do that,” Deputy Assistant Attorney General James Burnham said during the hearing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. “There’s no First Amendment right.”

Judge Timothy Kelly postponed until Thursday a decision on whether to at least temporarily restore Acosta’s press pass. But the arguments Wednesday represented a significant escalation in Trump’s fight against the media, with more than a dozen news organizations, including POLITICO, weighing in on CNN’s side.

Trump has long argued that coverage of his administration is unfair, and CNN has been a favorite target. Even before he took office, the president referred to Acosta as “fake news” at a press conference and refused to take questions from him. The White House also has substantially curtailed the number of briefings by press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

But reporters have retained access to the White House and traveled with the president, and before last week, revoking a journalist’s hard pass — the badge that lets them enter and exit the complex freely — was virtually unheard-of.

The White House said last Wednesday it was pulling Acosta’s access after he repeatedly tried to ask Trump questions at a press conference, even after the president dismissed him, and briefly refused to let a White House aide pull a microphone out of his hand. CNN on Tuesday asked a judge to temporarily restore Acosta's credentials and declare that the administration's actions were unconstitutional, saying Trump was punishing the network for its coverage of him and not for any action on Acosta’s part.

Ted Boutrous of Gibson and Dunn, who represented CNN and Acosta, said Wednesday that the White House’s decision was “part of a campaign” against Acosta, citing previous tweets and incidents in which Trump had insulted the reporter. He said under the White House’s logic, the president could bar reporters for any reason, including a “fit of pique.”

He also argued that Acosta, who was present for the hearing, was not afforded “due process” because he was not told his pass would be revoked beforehand or given a way to appeal the decision before he was prevented from entering White House grounds. He requested a two-week preliminary return of Acosta’s pass while the process moved forward.

A 1977 D.C. Circuit court ruling held that the government cannot deny a White House hard pass “arbitrarily or for less than compelling reasons” and must follow a clear process to do it. Kelly noted during the hearing that he would be bound by that court’s decision in issuing a ruling, and Boutrous cited the case repeatedly in his arguments.

Burnham, arguing for the White House, acknowledged that the administration had dropped its initial argument against Acosta: That he had inappropriately touched a White House aide who tried to take a microphone away from him at the press conference.

But he said Acosta’s behavior at the press conference still justified his expulsion, saying his repeated attempts to question the president after Trump tried to move on were “disruptive.” And in response to questions from Kelly, he said the administration would be justified in pulling a hard pass because of disputes over reporting, saying barring a reporter from a press conference was no different than refusing to grant them a private interview.

Kelly, a Trump appointee, seemed skeptical of some of CNN's arguments and appeared to agree that Acosta had been disruptive at the press conference. Boutrous responded that Trump set a tone of rudeness. “He is the most aggressive, dare I say rude, person in the room,” Boutros said. “[If] President Trump wants it to be a free-for-all, that’s his prerogative.”

The White House argued in its legal filing Wednesday that because it has granted hard passes to many other CNN employees, the network cannot say its coverage led to Acosta’s expulsion. The 28-page document mentioned six times that 50 CNN employees have hard passes. Boutrous pointed out that most of those employees are technicians and photographers, part of the large staff a TV network maintains to cover events live at the White House.

Reporters have denounced the decision to pull Acosta's access. Thirteen news organizations including Fox News, NBC and POLITICO announced Wednesday they would file amicus briefs supporting CNN's lawsuit.

"It is imperative that independent journalists have access to the President and his activities, and that journalists are not barred for arbitrary reasons. Our news organizations support the fundamental constitutional right to question this President, or any President," a joint statement from the news organizations said.

Meanwhile, on CNN, coverage appeared to be business-as-usual Wednesday.

CNN White House reporters Jeff Zeleny and Kaitlan Collins reported live from outside the White House on the latest West Wing personnel turmoil, neither of them mentioning the court hearing playing out across the town.

“In many ways, we’re compartmentalizing our coverage,” a CNN source told POLITICO. White House reporters will continue focusing on what’s happening at the White House, this person said, while other CNN journalists cover the lawsuit.

“The president of the United States is the most important person we cover,” the source added. “We will cover the president as we always have. We will cover him thoroughly. It’s business as usual as our coverage goes.”

A second CNN source said network president Jeff Zucker believes the press access fight is “an important story” but isn’t over-covering it as “he wants to be very careful not to weaponize the network.”

CNN appeared to focus more Wednesday on wildfires in California and post-midterms fallout in Washington than the lawsuit. But the network did turn to chief media correspondent Brian Stelter for updates and Jeffrey Toobin for analysis on the court proceedings.

White House officials, meanwhile, have largely been tight-lipped about the lawsuit, although Trump told the Daily Caller in an interview published Wednesday that Acosta was “bad for the country.”

And the president’s 2020 reelection campaign sent out a fundraising email asking recipients whether they think the White House made the right decision to revoke Acosta’s pass.

“President Trump will NOT put up with the media’s liberal bias and utter disrespect for this Administration and the hardworking Americans who stand with us,” the email read.

(Bloomberg) -- The Trump Administration was in court defending its decision to revoke CNN Chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta’s press pass, arguing reporters don’t have a Constitutional right to access the White House.

CNN sued after the White House pulled Acosta’s “hard pass,” citing his conduct at a Nov. 7 news conference where he refused to hand over a microphone. The network is asking a judge to reinstate Acosta’s pass immediately. A hard pass allows people unescorted access to the White House and its grounds.

Judge to Rule on CNN Pass Revocation Thursday

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly said he’ll rule Thursday on the legality of the Trump administration’s decision to revoke Acosta’s press pass. After hearing more than 1 1/2 hours of arguments from CNN and Trump Administration lawyers, Kelly said he’ll issue the ruling from the bench at 3 p.m. Thursday.

Trump Can Bar All WH Reporters, Lawyer Argues (5:15 p.m.)

The president is at the apex of authority to set rules, both in the Oval Office and in press conferences, and if he wants to exclude all reporters from the White House grounds, “he clearly has the discretion to do that,” a lawyer for the Trump administration told the judge.

James Burnham said there was no discrimination involved in the revocation of Acosta’s pass, but some control is required.

“If there is no check on this type of behavior,” the president’s ability to conduct the press conferences will be impeded, Burnham said at the hearing. "Grandstanding and disrupting press conferences is just not a viewpoint."

Acosta isn’t being picked out for his viewpoints, because countless other White House reporters, whose viewpoints are closer to Acosta’s than the president, haven’t had their passes revoked, including about 50 journalists from CNN, Burnham said.

Responding to U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly’s questioning of the government’s shifting reasons for revoking Acosta’s pass -- first the administration claimed Acosta put his hands on an aide trying to take away the microphone, then it was just his refusal to surrender the microphone -- Burnham said the government has been consistent in justifying its action for Acosta’s refusal to turn over the microphone and let others ask questions.

Earlier, Boutrous called Press Secretary Sarah Sanders’s statement that the president wouldn’t tolerate a reporter “placing his hands on a young woman” trying to do her job a “smear.”

He said Acosta wasn’t given any opportunity to challenge the revocation of his press pass, and the White House didn’t respond to a letter of protest from CNN President Jeff Zucker.

Acosta went to France to cover the president and while he got credentials from the French government, he still couldn’t get one from the White House, Boutrous said.

President’s Bad Day (4:30 p.m.)

Acosta and the president have had numerous clashes. What made Nov. 7 different was that “it was a bad day for the president,” coming after the midterm elections when the Republicans lost their majority in the House, CNN’s lawyer Theodore Boutrous told U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly.

Trump invited Acosta to ask a question at the press conference because he’s an aggressive reporter, Boutrous said. Trump, unlike other presidents, is often the most aggressive and rude person in the room, he said. “President Trump wants it to be a free-for-all,” Boutrous said.

"They don’t have to call on Jim Acosta at the press conference,” Boutrous said. “They could have turned off his mic."

The judge said that was fair, but asked what would happen if the administration just said it wasn’t going to invite Acosta in?

That would be too broad of a response, Boutrous replied. The First Amendment needs precision and Trump, the day after Acosta’s pass was pulled, suggested other credentials may be pulled, "and for what? A fit of pique?" Boutrous asked.

Hearing Starts With Questions (4 p.m.)

The hearing began with Kelly telling the two sides he has a “bunch of questions.” The judge said there’s at least some evidence that it was Acosta’s behavior, and not his viewpoint, that got his pass revoked.

CNN’s lawyer Boutrous says the White House has made it very clear it doesn’t like the content of Acosta’s and the network’s reporting. He cited Trump’s litany of referring to the press as the “enemy of the people” and “fake news.”

The case is Cable News Network Inc. v. Donald J. Trump, 18-cv-2610, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).

I concur. Daverod is welcome to post in this thread as far as I'm concerned.

White House Deputy National Security Adviser Mira Ricardel has left her post, following a high-profile row with US First Lady Melania Trump.

A White House spokeswoman said Mrs Ricardel "departs the White House to transition to a new role within the administration". She did not elaborate.

Mrs Trump this week said that Mrs Ricardel "no longer deserves the honour of serving in this White House".

The two reportedly feuded during a tour of Africa in October.


The removal of Mrs Ricardel comes amid reports in US media that President Donald Trump is considering a shake-up in the White House West Wing.

Mr Trump may be preparing to remove White House Chief of Staff John Kelly or Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, the reports say.

The announcement of the transfer of Mrs Ricardel was made in a statement by White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders on Wednesday.

The spokeswoman added that Mrs Ricardel "will continue to support the president".

According to US media reports earlier this week, Mrs Trump and Mrs Ricardel quarrelled over seating arrangements on her plane.

During her trip there, Mrs Trump told ABC in a rare interview that there were people in the White House who she does not trust.

She said she gave the president "my honest advice and honest opinions and then he does what he wants to do".

The Wall Street Journal had earlier reported that Mrs Trump's team believed Mrs Ricardel was behind some of the "negative stories" about Mrs Trump and her staff.

The newspaper also reported that she repeatedly clashed with US Secretary of Defense James Mattis over "staffing decisions and policy differences".

Mrs Ricardel was hired away from the Department of Commerce by National Security Advisor John Bolton, and has decades of experience working in the US government.

She had earlier worked in the defence department under former President George W Bush as well as under Republican Senator Bob Dole when he served as the Senate Majority Leader.

White House Deputy National Security Adviser Mira Ricardel has left her post, following a high-profile row with US First Lady Melania Trump.

A White House spokeswoman said Mrs Ricardel "departs the White House to transition to a new role within the administration". She did not elaborate.

Mrs Trump this week said that Mrs Ricardel "no longer deserves the honour of serving in this White House".

The two reportedly feuded during a tour of Africa in October.

reconcile working for an Administration that clearly is trying to advance Russian interests

I see no reason to accuse him of craziness.

England 3-0 USA.

Trump supporter asks where’s the ‘sea of reporters’ as he describes brutal attack over MAGA hat

"I felt a very strong grasp on my hat and it pulled me back and grabbed a lot of hair,” he told local station KVOA. “The assailant had jumped onto my ankle from behind, and so I — not knowing yet that my ankle was broken into four pieces — turned around to grab and take the hat back.”

According to Sparks, as his hands latched onto his hat, the two fell to the ground and the attack continued: “Then I heard the words Hitler, Nazi and Trump. He was shouting things like that. He came over the top of me and over and over again, he hit me,” he said.

Mrs. Obama

It sickens me that I have to take time to write you this letter. I am a Marine who doesn’t recognize color because every color has lived and died for you. You live in a free country to blame your life on the color of another man’s skin. All colors have given their lives for an educated woman to have the freedom to be so ignorant. I don’t blame black people for the ignorance that comes from your mouth. I love all colors because I love all that God creates. I don’t have to like you to love you because we can’t always like the ones we love. Just because I don’t like you today doesn’t mean I can’t like you tomorrow. I don’t like you or your husband today because of what you’re doing to this country. Isn’t it funny how the truth always reveals itself in time. You and your husband never showed this side of yourselves in 2008 before he was elected.

Martin Luther King had a dream that we would all live in the promise land. He is not remembered for being black. He is remembered for the love, and character he had within his heart. If you don’t like this country get on that plane and never come back. I will stay here and love all Americans, regardless of skin. I will love the beauty of what God created and stand tall with my American friends. Not because of their color but for the character and love they carry within. This country doesn’t owe you anymore than it owes me. So many have thanked me for my service and I will always be grateful. I pray that one day you and your husband might cause me to be grateful for yours. You will never be remembered as the First Lady of Color but soon forgotten after you leave the White House. You nor your husband shall ever divide us. I wish you no harm, but pray you will take your troubles to a land you no longer hate. Hate shall come and go but His love shall last forever. If you wish to find me I am now a writer for the DC Gazette. #Marine4Truth Also on Twitter @mshep08_mike I have included the interview I gave to the wonderful people of Australia, explaining my reason for writing this letter. God bless America, Shep