After the White House decreed it would yank reporter Jim Acosta's press pass after the court-ordered 14-day grace period, the White House backed down and agreed to fully reinstate it.
In a statement, CNN said, “Today the White House fully restored Jim Acosta’s press pass. As a result, our lawsuit is no longer necessary. We look forward to continuing to cover the White House.”
In turn, CNN dropped their lawsuit filed to force reinstatement.
And everyone lived happily ever after. Or not. Huckabee Sanders and Bill Shine also laid down some rules, which appear to be set to ban reporters who dare to follow up on their questions, after warning CNN and Acosta that should he refuse to follow these new rules, they would "take action" to take away his pass again.
Here are the rules, as reported by the Washington Post: Reporters must ask one question of the president at news conferences but can follow up with another if the president chooses. A reporter must then “yield the floor,” including giving up a microphone.
Presumably this gives President Man-Baby the right to object to the first question and ignore it in favor of someone friendlier.
In other news, the White House Correspondents' Association is so afraid of Tyrannical Donald's fury that they're not going to have a comedian headline their dinner this year, opting instead for writer Ron Chernow.
Honestly, that dinner is an abomination anyway. It would be better if the media stopped mingling with the politicians and just did their reporting, access or not.
The war on the First Amendment will rage on, I'm sure. They're just giving the reporters they hate enough rope to hang themselves, because the good ones won't bow before the throne of the Orange Scourge.
