CNN sues Trump, top aides for barring chief White House reporter

CNN has kicked off a lawsuit against US President Donald Trump and a number of his top aides after Secret Service officials barred the news group’s chief White House reporter Jim Acosta.

With CNN and Jim Acosta as the lawsuit’s plaintiffs, the case will target Trump, press secretary Sally Sanders, chief of staff John Kelly, deputy chief of staff Bill Shine, Secret Service director Randolph Alles as well the (yet unnamed) Secret Service officer who actually cancelled Acosta’s White House pass.

As early as his 2016 presidential race, and in the two years since becoming president, Trump has openly locked horns with CNN and other liberal-orientated news agencies during press conferences, labeling the their reporting as “fake news.”

At the post-midterm press conference just several days ago, Trump dismissed Acosta in front of cameras as a “rude, terrible person” after he refused to accept that the president was finished receiving questions from him and repeatedly failed to hand over the microphone over to other reporters when told to do so.

Acosta’s barring comes as a shock given that CNN is well-established in the White House, traditionally enjoying exclusive access to military and political affairs as they develop.