CNN Preparing To Sue Trump Administration On First Amendment Grounds

Does retaliating against Jim Acosta finally cross a First Amendment line?

(JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)

The Trump administration has shown legendary hostility to the freedom of the press. The president’s repeated attacks on the press are not only part of his authoritarian political strategy to question the nature of facts and reality; he’s also putting the lives of reporters (both here and around the world) in danger to “own the libs.” And that’s without even looking at how he treats black women in particular, who Trump belittles and demeans because he is racist.

There has been no unified response to Trump’s repeated attacks on the press from the press. The press erects rationalizations atop a sea of self-interest to justify continuing coverage of Trump’s lies and material falsehoods. It turns out, reporters are eager to exercise their First Amendment rights, but they leave the hard work of fighting for them to others: non-profit associations and lawyers, mainly.

In mature totalitarian regimes, the state-run media broadcasts the ruling narrative, and everybody else with a platform works hard to combat it. In our fledgling authoritarian nation, Fox News broadcasts the state narrative, and everybody else works hard to maintain their access to the rulers. One senses that the major organizations covering the president are not trying to stop Fox, they’re trying to be Fox, or at least get what Fox gets. They’re not trying to break the wheel, they’re waiting for their turn.

In that context, CNN even considering standing up for one of its reporters is shocking. The Trump administration revoked CNN reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials in retaliation for Acosta trying to get the president to answer the question.

The White House claims that they revoked Acosta’s credentials for “assaulting” an intern who tried to grab the mic from him. That claim is laughable on its face. Watch the video. No, not the sped-up video released by Infowars to make it look like Acosta met the intern in the Thunderdome. Watch the actual video.

You know it’s not “assault” because if a reporter had assaulted a White House intern on live television… HE’D BE CHARGED WITH ASSAULT! Again, we don’t just have to take the White House’s words as reality. We can look at what the White House actually does and deduce our own conclusions. Here, it’s clear that neither the White House nor the intern was “assaulted.” Instead, the White House is carrying out a retaliatory strike against a reporter the president called a “terrible” person.

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I pretty much expected CNN to just roll over. The rest of the White House press corps certainly did. No matter how brazen and dismissive Trump is to any reporter, there’s always another reporter eager to ask him a question in a respectful manner. If Trump demeans a black reporter, there’s always a white one eager to grab the mic. Trump could tell reporters that they had to preface each question with a barnyard animal noise, and 90 percent of them would fight over who got to bray like the noble pony.

But we live in a world of surprises and apparently CNN is really considering suing to protect the First Amendment rights of its reporters. From The Hill:

Longtime ABC News White House correspondent Sam Donaldson said Sunday that CNN and its chief White House correspondent, Jim Acosta, are suing the Trump administration over Acosta’s revoked press credentials.

Donaldson, speaking on CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” said that he has been asked to submit an affidavit in the lawsuit in preparation for a court hearing this week.

First Amendment mascot and lawyer Floyd Abrams thinks that CNN has a case:

“I think it’s a really strong lawsuit,” Abrams said. “I can understand CNN being reluctant to sue because the president keeps saying CNN is the enemy of me, and CNN might have reluctance to have a lawsuit titled ‘CNN vs. Donald Trump.’ That said, yes, I think they should sue.” Abrams said.

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Right, CNN might be worried about suing Trump because of the state-run narrative that will pushed out on Fox News, one of CNN’s competitors. That’s like the dog being worried about going outside because it’ll make the cat angry.

It feels like Jim Acosta has a better case personally than CNN does as an organization. Banning CNN would be an obvious violation of the First Amendment. But picking off CNN’s reporters one by one might actually work.

Still, CNN should sue, precisely because there are bigger issues here than Jim Acosta and CNN. I don’t think that there is a lot of utility in covering these White House press conferences. But I do think that the precedent of allowing the White House to retaliate against reporters is a bad one. We’ve already seen how desperate the White House press corps is for access — how craven will they become if the White House can just pull that precious access on a whim? If they White House can do this to Acosta, they can do this to anybody, and everybody who covers the president will know that and act accordingly.

Remember, picking off people one by one is exactly how fascist regimes operate. Failing to stand up for each other when you are not the one they are picking on that day has predictable effects.

“First they came for the black women, and I said nothing because I was not a black woman. Then they came for CNN, and I said nothing because I did not work for CNN. Then they came for me… and so I’m here to report that the law is unclear about how long Trump is allowed to keep me in this cell. Experts have questioned the validity of Trump’s constitutional interpretation. But Kellyanne Conway just stopped by with my gruel ration, and she told me that the White House is monitoring the situation and remains confident that the courts will uphold these actions. Back to you, Chuck.” — Future White House correspondent.

Former White House correspondent says CNN is suing over Acosta press credentials [The Hill]


Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.