CNN reporter Jim Acosta addressed his assembled fellow reporters briefly after a judge ruled that the White House must immediately reinstate his press credentials.
“I want to thank all of my colleagues in the press who supported us this week,” he said. “And I want to thank the judge for the decision he made today. Let’s go back to work.”
The White House took Acosta’s credentials after a contentious press conference when he got in a heated back-and-forth with President Donald Trump. When Acosta aggressively tried to get an answer to his question, Trump lost his temper and called Acosta a “rude, terrible person.”
Shortly thereafter, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders stripped Acosta of his credentials, claiming that he had touched a White House press intern who tried to take his microphone. She backed up the bogus claim with a doctored video manipulated to make it look like Acosta struck the young woman.
The White House soon dropped that phony excuse, instead claiming that Acosta’s grandstanding was unfair to the other White House press corps reporters.
Watch Acosta’ statement here:
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) November 16, 2018
