AFTER a hate and rage-laden week from the White House burner, we end this week with some silver linings to propel us in celebrating steps toward protecting democracy in the United States.
First, let me start with the great news that a federal judge has ruled that the White House give back to CNN Senior White House Correspondent Jim Acosta the “hard press pass” it revoked from him during the explosive news conference in the White House the day after the midterm elections.
As the Washington Post reported, U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly granted CNN’s motion for a temporary restraining order that will prevent the Trump administration from keeping Acosta off the White House grounds to do his job.
Kelly said while he agreed with the government’s argument that there was no First Amendment right to come onto the White House grounds, the judge pointed out that once the White House opened up the grounds to reporters, the First Amendment applied.
Kellly’s decision emphasized evidence indicating that the White House’s decision to revoke Acosta’s press credentials violated the Fifth Amendment, which guarantees due process in government actions.
According to the Post, the judge explained that the White House’s decision-making was “so shrouded in mystery that the government could not tell me . . . who made the decision.” The White House’s written arguments for banning Acosta were belated and were not sufficient to satisfy due process, Kelly said.
The fact that the changing reason behind the revocation of Acosta’s hard press pass factored in the judge’s decision. Initially, Trump’s Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended the decision saying, “We will… 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.”
Following the backlash against this “doctored” video from the questionable website “InfoWars,” the Trump Administration later explained that it was Acosta’s rudeness that was the reason why the reporter’s press credential was revoked, arguing there has to be respect and decorum in the White House.
This is just a preliminary victory not only for Acosta and CNN, but for the free press, with several news organizations expressing their support for Acosta and CNN, including Trump’s favorite Fox News. Trump has been denigrating the mainstream news media, calling them “the true enemy of the people” since he started campaigning for president. What Trump did to Acosta, he could also do to other reporters in his attempt to silence critical thinking journalists who are committed to pursuing the truth.
According to the Washington Post, the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA), which represents journalists in their negotiations over access to the president, filed a brief Thursday, urging the court “to roundly reject the president’s dangerous legal position.”
The WHCA likewise disputed the government’s claim that the president has “absolute, unbridled discretion to decide who can report from inside the White House.”
The Trump administration has said it will push forward with the legal battle with Acosta and CNN.
After the ruling, the New York Times reported that Trump said the White House would tighten its rules for how journalists must comport themselves at the White House.
“People have to behave,” the president said in the Oval Office. “If they don’t listen to the rules and regulations, we’ll end up back in court, and we will win.”
This is such a hypocritical statement on respect and decorum from the president who has been disrespecting, vilifying the members of the free press who are just doing their sacred obligations to ask hard questions and demand truthful answers from the chief executive of the country.
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
