Presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway Monday said she was "not aware" that the White House may have decided to suspend CNN reporter Jim Acosta's hard pass once again, saying that she'd rather "broaden" the conversation to be about the White House Press Corps and freedom of the press.
Further, she told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" co-host Bill Hemmer that she didn't know the answer when asked if Acosta would be at the White House on Monday.
"Obviously it was reinstated," she said about the CNN reporter's access. "He came here."
President Donald Trump told Fox News' Chris Wallace in an interview this weekend that rules and regulations for contact must be created, and that "nobody believes in the First Amendment more than I do." He added that if someone is "acting out of sorts," he would just leave a press event.
The rules, said Conway, are in "process," but a federal judge's ruling that allowed Acosta to once against have access had more to do with the Fifth Amendment and due process than the First Amendment.
Shortly after a federal court restored CNN reporter Jim Acosta's press pass, the White House took almost immediate action to contest his access, sending the journalist a letter saying his pass will be suspended again after the court's restraining order has expired, according to the network.
CNN, in a court filing on Monday, said it and Acosta hope the parties can resolve the dispute without further court intervention, the network reported.
"The president is right nobody likes the First Amendment more than he does," said Conway. "He sends us out here to talk about that and I'm on TV almost every day trying to talk about policy."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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