Quote of the Day:
“This is a lie.”
— Jim Acosta, CNN Chief White House correspondent, responding to White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who wrote, “President Trump believes in a free press and expects and welcomes tough questions of him and his Administration. We will, however, never tolerate a reporter placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern.”
Acosta is in the current season of House of Cards. His acting is not that great.
The resentful coworker …
“@lachlan is going on vacation; I literally told him a few hours ago, Trump is gonna get rid of Sessions while you’re on vacay and leaving me here all alone, you asshole, lol.” — Asawin Suebsaeng, The Daily Beast.
FOR ACOSTA:
“White House just suspended Jim Acosta’s credentials. It’s on.” — James Oliphant, White House correspondent, Reuters.
“The deeper evil of revoking @Acosta credential: it’s not an act of anger, but a deliberate attempt to distract attention from the election defeat & change the news cycle. Like sending troops to the border or revoking security clearances, it’s a (costly, divisive, dangerous) ploy.” — Robby Mook, Hillary Clinton‘s former press secretary.
“President Trump — who has been accused numerous times of putting his hands, unwanted, on women, and who defended his campaign manager when he grabbed a female Breitbart reporter in 2016 — revokes @Acosta’s hard pass for “placing his hands” on an intern (which he didn’t do).” — Matt Viser, national political reporter, The Washington Post.
“Plenty to criticize Acosta about, but he did not “place his hands” on the intern. It’s ridiculous for anyone to suggest he did. And after Trump joked about Gianforte bodyslamming Ben Jacobs the White House can’t bust out the fainting couch now.” — Chuck Ross, The Daily Caller.
“News the White House pulled Jim Acosta’s credentials is not an attack on one journalist but all of the press. There should be complete solidarity. This is a moment for any Republican who says they believe in the Constitution to stand up.” — Dan Rather, longtime broadcast journalist.
“Yeah, I didn’t see that happen. I saw him pull away when she tried to take the microphone, neither of which involves a physical altercation. Did I miss something?” — Eddie Scarry, media writer, The Washington Examiner.
“BREAKING: White House announces suspension of credentials for CNN reporter Jim Acosta after incident where White House aide tried to physically remove a microphone from his hands.” — NBC News.
“In this thread, Sarah Sanders says she is revoking Jim Acosta’s White House pass because Acosta put “his hands on a young woman trying to do her job as a White House intern.” That’s not what happened.” — Andrew Desiderio, The Daily Beast.
“Not only is the White House punishing a reporter, it’s lying about the reason. And the proof is right there in the video for anyone who wants to watch it.” — Chris Megerian, Washington-based LAT reporter.
“Trump @PressSec confirms that White House has suspended the hard pass of a reporter because it doesn’t like the way he does his job. This is something I’ve never seen since I started covering the White House in 1996. Other presidents did not fear tough questioning.” — Peter Baker, chief White House correspondent, NYT.
AGAINST ACOSTA:
“On Fox News, Chris Wallace says ‘I thought Acosta’s behavior was shameful.'” — Max Tani, The Daily Beast.
“No it isn’t a lie, you clearly put your hands on her. You used your left arm and hand to overpower her. The only liar is you.” — Paul Joseph Watson.
“There’s literally no excuse for @Acosta’s behavior today. At the very least he needs to apologize to that intern, and his colleagues.” — Krystle Schoonveld, occasional contributor, The Federalist.
“It just crosses a line; you don’t put your hands on a woman, I think we all had to hear that recently in similar context. And I’m not sure he has apologized to that young woman, but she certainly is owed one.” — Kellyanne Conway to Fox Business host Trish Reagan.
The voice of reason…
“The thing about this White House is that, over and over again, they choose to lie in order to justify wrong and stupid decisions, knowing the press will get worked up over the lie and the base will either believe it or not care about it at all.” — Olivia Nuzzi, reporter, New York Mag.
The Witness
“I was seated next to @Acosta at today’s press conference and did not witness him “placing his hands” on the young intern, as the White House alleges. He held on to the microphone as she reached for it. The @Reuters pictures below depict what happened accurately.” — Jeff Mason, White House correspondent, Reuters. See the pictures here.
Gossip Roundup
TMZ: Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner are officially Splitsville. They’re headed to co-parenting therapy. How mature of them. Here.
NYP’s Page Six: ABC’s George Stephanpoulos is a lucky man — his wife says she’d rather have sex than her phone. Here.
Splinter News: Supreme Court Justice RBG is at George WashingtonUniversity Hospital today after a fall. Here.
The Observer
“Hannity is still explaining himself about the Trump rally. Half of me believes Fox is making him go on about this because they’re embarrassed. Half of me believes Hannity just wants to keep reminding everyone he was at a Trump rally and people paid attention to him.” — Eddie Scarry.
In praise of CNN ignoring the Acosta story
“Really impressed that @CN has stayed focused on the firing of Sessions and the potential constitutional crisis this might set off. The @Acosta situation is real and its important. But it is also clear the WH is doing this as a political tactic. Thanks CNN for staying focused.” — Joe Lockhart, CNN political commentator, former White House Press Secretary for President Bill Clinton.