Reacting to a federal court's ruling which ordered the White House to reinstate CNN reporter Jim Acosta's press credentials, President Donald Trump on Friday warned the scribe that he could be thrown out if he "misbehaved" at future press conferences.
"Yeah, it's fine. I mean, it's not a big deal," Trump said in an interview with Fox News.
US District Judge Timothy Kelly, in his ruling, ordered the White House to reinstate the scribe's press pass, thereby allowing him to cover events and pressers at the White House.
"What they said though is that we have to create rules and regulations for conduct, etc., etc. We're doing that, were 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," the US President was quoted by The Hill as saying.
Recalling the verbal spat with Acosta, who is CNN's chief White House correspondent, Trump said, "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 you know doing what he's supposed to be doing for him and for CNN and you know just shouting out questions and making statements, too."
On Tuesday, CNN filed a lawsuit suing Trump and his associates, seeking an immediate restoration of the press credentials of Acosta. The lawsuit was a response to the White House's suspension of Acosta's press pass, known as a Secret Service "hard pass", last week for an unspecified duration.
The revocation of Acosta's press pass came after a fierce exchange with the US President during a news conference last week. The reporter had repeatedly asked questions on migrant caravan's movement in Central America and Russian investigation, before Trump had ordered an intern to take the mic from Acosta.
The American broadcaster claimed that the removal of Acosta's White House press pass constituted a violation of his First Amendment rights to freely report on the government. CNN also alleged that the administration had violated Acosta's due process rights by revoking his credentials without warning.
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