--- title: White House Agrees to Fully Restore Acosta's Press Pass description: The White House is backing off a fight with CNN over correspondent Jim Acosta’s press pass, according to the network. canonical: https://time.com/5459403/white-house-jim-acosta-press-pass/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-11-19T21:25:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:53:05.237Z article:section: Politics og:title: CNN Says White House Agrees to Restore Jim Acosta's Press Pass, But Warns Him to Follow the 'Rules' og:description: "The president is aware of this decision and concurs," according to a letter from Bill Shine and Sarah Sanders og:url: https://time.com/5459403/white-house-jim-acosta-press-pass/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9f88bfc28c663ead/69893f85db2987babc2613c6/jim-acosta-press-pass.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4272 og:image:height: 2403 og:image:alt: Media CNN vs Trump, Washington, USA - 16 Nov 2018 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: CNN Says White House Agrees to Restore Jim Acosta's Press Pass, But Warns Him to Follow the 'Rules' twitter:description: "The president is aware of this decision and concurs," according to a letter from Bill Shine and Sarah Sanders twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9f88bfc28c663ead/69893f85db2987babc2613c6/jim-acosta-press-pass.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # CNN Says White House Agrees to Fully Restore Jim Acosta's Press Pass, But Warns Him to Follow the 'Rules' > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=c5201d10-42c0-4df5-832c-9bf95d8f990b&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Trump Addresses Jim Acosta Ruling: 'People Have to Behave' [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump Addresses Jim Acosta Ruling: 'People Have to Behave'](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/rF8dpATq.m3u8) (1:30)  _Published 2018-11-16. President Trump Addresses Jim Acosta Ruling: 'People Have to Behave'_ by [Andrew Harris and Gerry Smith / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Andrew Harris and Gerry Smith / Bloomberg Contributor Nov 19, 2018 9:25 PM UTC  CNN's Jim Acosta enters the Brady press briefing room upon returning back to the White House in Washington on Nov. 16, 2018. CNN's Jim Acosta enters the Brady press briefing room upon returning back to the White House in Washington on Nov. 16, 2018. Manuel Balce Ceneta—AP/REX/Shutterstock by [Andrew Harris and Gerry Smith / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Andrew Harris and Gerry Smith / Bloomberg Contributor Nov 19, 2018 9:25 PM UTC (Bloomberg) —The White House is backing off a fight with CNN over correspondent Jim Acosta’s press pass, according to the network. The White House said it made a final determination and decided Acosta’s “hard pass is restored,” CNN said in a statement. The decision was made three days after a judge had ordered the White House to restore Acosta’s pass on a temporary basis and ends a weeklong legal fight that united the media against the administration. The restoration of Acosta’s pass also came with a warning, according to a letter to Acosta from Bill Shine, assistant to the president, and Sarah Sanders, the White House Press Secretary. CNN provided a copy of the letter. “Should you refuse to follow these rules in the future, we will take action,” the administration said in the letter. “The president is aware of this decision and concurs.” The president banned the reporter on Nov. 7, following a contentious press conference during which Acosta pressed Trump to answer a question and refused to yield the microphone even as a White House aide attempted to take it from him. Moments later, Trump called the reporter “a rude, terrible person.” That evening, Acosta was told to surrender his press credential, after which Sanders said the move was justified by a video clip appearing to show him striking the aide’s arm as she reached for the mic. The video was doctored to make it look that way, according to critics. CNN filed suit on Nov. 13, asserting the revocation — which came without prior warning — violated Acosta’s rights, including freedom of the press. The administration later said its action was justified by the reporter’s refusal to hand over the microphone and sit down, abandoning its earlier reliance upon the video. Two days later, Kelly heard two hours of argument over whether the reporter had a right of access and, if so, whether the administration could rescind it without prior notice and a chance to contest the decision. In a decision read from the bench on Nov. 16, the judge said the network and its correspondent had shown a likelihood they’d succeed on the merits of their due process claim and ordered Acosta reinstated. Later same that day, the president said he would impose new press conference rules. “People have to behave,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “You have to act with respect. You’re in the White House.” The case is Cable News Network Inc. v. Trump, 18-cv-2610, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia (Washington). ## Transcript People have to behave and they have to do we are writing up rules and regulations to make a position I think you were treated very unfairly both of you. I think you were treated very unfairly because you have somebody interrupting you. If they don't listen to rules and regulations will end back in court and we'll win But more importantly will just leave. And then you will be very happy. Because- Mr. President. We get good ratings. Mr. President you talked about rules and regulations. What do you mean sir? Decorum. You can't take three questions and four questions and just stand up and not sit down. Decorum. You have to practice decorum. You were there, you understood, and you understand. We want total freedom of the press. It's very important to me, it's more important to me than anybody would believe. But you have to act with respect, you're in the White House. And what I see the way some of my people get treated at press conferences, it's terrible. So we're setting up a Certain standard which is what the court is requesting and always freedom of the press, always first amendment but that's the way it is and we always have the action of just leaving, you know. We feel that things aren't treated properly, that people aren't being treated properly. We always have the right to leave. And I think the Other media and the other press in the room will not be very happy if that happens, but I've instructed my people when they're not treated properly, you have the right to just leave any time you want, okay? ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5459403/white-house-jim-acosta-press-pass/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5459403/white-house-jim-acosta-press-pass/"},"headline":"CNN Says White House Agrees to Fully Restore Jim Acosta's Press Pass, But Warns Him to Follow the 'Rules'","datePublished":"2018-11-19T21:25:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:53:05.237Z","description":"'The president is aware of this decision and concurs'","url":"https://time.com/5459403/white-house-jim-acosta-press-pass/","keywords":["White House","Bloomberg","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9f88bfc28c663ead/69893f85db2987babc2613c6/jim-acosta-press-pass.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Andrew Harris and Gerry Smith / Bloomberg"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9f88bfc28c663ead/69893f85db2987babc2613c6/jim-acosta-press-pass.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Media CNN vs Trump, Washington, USA - 16 Nov 2018","caption":"Media CNN vs Trump, Washington, USA - 16 Nov 2018","creditText":"Manuel Balce Ceneta—AP/REX/Shutterstock","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5459403/white-house-jim-acosta-press-pass/","name":"CNN Says White House Agrees to Fully Restore Jim Acosta's Press Pass, But Warns Him to Follow the 'Rules'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"President Trump Addresses Jim Acosta Ruling: 'People Have to Behave'","description":"President Trump Addresses Jim Acosta Ruling: 'People Have to Behave'","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/rF8dpATq/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-11-16T18:52:58.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/rF8dpATq.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5459403/white-house-jim-acosta-press-pass/","duration":"PT1M30S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5459403/white-house-jim-acosta-press-pass/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```