The White House has suspended the credentials of CNN's chief White House correspondent hours after a testy exchange with US President Donald Trump.

A White House staffer tried to grab the microphone from CNN's Jim Acosta at the press conference on Wednesday.

But press secretary Sarah Sanders said access was removed because the reporter put "his hands on a young woman".

Mr Acosta called Ms Sanders claim "a lie".

The president said the CNN journalist was a "rude, terrible person" at the press event.

Mr Acosta challenged Mr Trump's recent assertions about a migrant caravan heading to the US from Central America. A female staff member then attempted to take the microphone from the journalist.
"That's enough, that's enough," the president said to Mr Acosta, before telling him to sit down and to put down his microphone.

"CNN should be ashamed of themselves, having you work for them," he said. "The way you treat Sarah Huckabee [Sanders] is horrible."

Ms Sanders, in a statement posted in a Twitter thread, said the White House would "never tolerate a reporter placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job".

"As a result of today's incident, the White House is suspending the hard pass of the reporter involved until further notice."

Journalists decried the move to revoke Mr Acosta's access.

CNN issued a statement on Twitter saying the ban was "in retaliation for [Jim Acosta's] challenging questions".

Source: BBC Online

BDST: 1358 HRS, NOV 8, 2018
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