Team Trump is writing up “rules and regulations” for how reporters should behave during White House press briefings, President Trump said Friday. “People have to…
Team Trump is writing up “rules and regulations” for how reporters should behave during White House press briefings, President Trump said Friday.
“People have to behave and we are writing up rules and regulations. I think you were treated very unfairly. Both of you were treated very unfairly because you have people interrupting you,” the president said at the White House.
He was apparently referring to reporters who he said were interrupted by CNN’s Jim Acosta as he persisted in questioning the president during a contentious news conference last week.
Trump’s comments came hours after a federal judge on Friday ruled the White House had to return press credentials to Acosta — at least temporarily — rebuking the president’s decision to yank them after that briefing.
But the president — who frequently rejects and insults reporters in person and on Twitter — insisted the new rules would ensure “decorum” during the increasingly rare briefings.
“You can’t take three or four questions and stand up and not sit down. We want total freedom of the press. That’s very important. More important to me than anybody would believe,” he said.
“If they don’t listen to the rules and regulations, we will end up back in court and we will win. More importantly, we will just leave. Then you won’t be very happy. We do get good ratings,” he said.
But, he added, “You have to act with respect in the White House. When I see the way my people get treated, it’s terrible.”
Trump said he told his communications team to simply walk out if they don’t like the way they are being spoken to by reporters.
“I instructed my people when they are not treated properly, you have the right to just leave, any time you want,” he said.
Acosta’s “hard pass” for the White House was taken after he declined to give up the mic while sparring with the president over the caravan of asylum seekers heading to the US border.
