White House Permanently Restores CNN Correspondent Jim Acosta’s Press Pass

The press pass of CNN’s White House correspondent, Jim Acosta, has been permanently restored on Monday. According to a report by the Guardian, the White House also ended a high stakes legal fight over press freedom and the U.S. Constitution that had recently disturbed the country’s media and political landscape.

In an official statement, CNN signaled that it would “drop the ongoing litigation over Acosta’s access to the White House” because Acosta’s press pass was fully restored which rendered the lawsuit unnecessary. The report further added that the media outlet will “look forward to continuing to cover the White House.”

Earlier on, Jim Acosta received a letter from the White House that stated that his press pass will be permanently revoked as soon as Judge Timothy Kelly’s order, issued last Friday, expires.

As previously reported by the Inquisitr, Kelly restored Acosta’s press pass on a temporary basis. But as the order would have expired at the end of November, the White House would be able to legally restrict Acosta from covering President Donald Trump’s speeches while in the White House.

CNN decried the move and said in an earlier statement that stopping Acosta from covering the White House is a violation of the First and 5th Amendments of the Constitution.

“These actions threaten all journalists and news organizations. Jim Acosta and CNN will continue to report the news about the White House and the President,” the statement said, per the Inquisitr.

But on Monday afternoon, the White House made an abrupt shift on its earlier position in the matter and sent a notification to Acosta where he was informed that his press pass is restored, per CNN.

“Having received a formal reply from your counsel to our letter of November 16, we have made a final determination in this process: your hard pass is restored. Should you refuse to follow these rules in the future, we will take action in accordance with the rules set forth above. The President is aware of this decision and concurs.”

In an unprecedented move about two weeks ago, Jim Acosta’s access to the White House was suspended by the Trump administration after he had a “contentious exchange with President Trump at a press conference.”

The Guardian report further detailed that the confrontation between the reporter and the president led to a “tugging match” when a White House intern intervened and tried to take the roving microphone away from Acosta — who determinedly hung on to it. The scene was captured on live TV. As the report detailed, the feud escalated after Acosta’s pass was suspended.

Initially, Trump administration said that Acosta tried to make inappropriate physical contact with the intern when she tried to take his microphone away and a released a video clip. The White House later said that Acosta wasn’t behaving properly in general.