White House suspends CNN reporter's 'hard pass' after Pres. Trump post-election news conference

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump's combative relationship with the media continues to deteriorate.

During his post-midterms news conference on Wednesday, he called some journalists rude, told some to sit down and accused a PBS reporter of posing a racist question when she asked about white nationalists. He blamed the press for the divisiveness in politics today.

One confrontation with CNN's Jim Acosta turned bitterly personal.

In response, CNN said President Trump's attacks on the press have gone too far. The network said while President Trump doesn't respect a free press, he has the constitutional responsibility to protect it.

On Wednesday night, Nov. 7, Sarah Sanders, White House press secretary said "the White House is suspending the hard pass of the reporter involved until further notice," issuing this statement on Twitter:

"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. This conduct is absolutely unacceptable. It is also completely disrespectful to the reporter’s colleagues not to allow them an opportunity to ask a question. President Trump has given the press more access than any President in history, contrary to CNN’s assertions there is no greater demonstration of the President’s support for a free press than the event he held today. Only they would attack the President for not supporting a free press in the midst of him taking 68 questions from 35 different reporters over the course of 1.5 hours, including several from the reporter in question. The fact that CNN is proud of the way their employee behaved is not only disgusting, it‘s an example of their outrageous disregard for everyone, including young women, who work in this Administration. As a result of today’s incident, the White House is suspending the hard pass of the reporter involved until further notice."