Politics - News Analysis

Trump Just Said If Jim Acosta ‘Misbehaves’ Again He Will ‘Throw Him Out’

Donald Trump brushed off a federal judge’s Friday ruling that the White House must reinstate press credentials for Jim Acosta, CNN’s chief White House correspondent.

The president also said during an interview set to air on “Fox News Sunday” that if Acosta “misbehaves” at a future press conference the White House could “throw him out.”

Trump told Wallace it’s “not a big deal,” saying, “What they said, though, is that we have to create rules and regulations for conduct… we’re doing that, we’re going to write them up right now. It’s not a big deal. And if he misbehaves, we’ll throw him out or we’ll stop the news conference.”

Wallace asked him exactly what the rules are going to be.

Trump just said there are “rules of decorum” and reporters can’t keep asking questions.

After knocking Acosta for shouting out, the President said, “Nobody believes in the First Amendment more than I do. And if I think somebody is acting out of sorts, I will leave. I’ll say, ‘Thank you very much, everybody. I appreciate you coming.’ And I’ll leave. And those reporters will not be too friendly to whoever it is that’s acting up.”

A beaming Acosta returned to the White House today and thanked his colleagues for standing by him, which included support from Fox News. Trump and Sarah Sanders talked earlier today about establishing rules of decorum for reporters at briefings.

A statement this morning from CNN and Acosta said, “We are gratified with this result and we look forward to a full resolution in the coming days. Our sincere thanks to all who have supported not just CNN, but a free, strong and independent American press.”

Trump and Acosta engaged in a tense exchange during the televised press conference last week after the reporter pushed Trump on his comments criticizing a group of Central American migrants making their way to the U.S.-Mexico border.

As Acosta continued to press the president, a White House intern attempted to take the microphone away. Acosta did not let go, with his hand brushing against the intern.

After the press conference, Sanders accused Acosta of “placing his hands” on the intern and cited the incident as the reason for why his media access was being revoked.

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