CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta apologized on Friday for saying “F– You” to a Twitter user in a direct message. In a tweet, Acosta said he had confused the person for an old friend. 
 
 “Hey buddy I thought you were an old friend from the campaign days. I’m so sorry. Hope I didn’t offend you. Have a good night and take care,” he said. 
 
 Hey buddy I thought you were an old friend from the campaign days. I’m so sorry. Hope I didn’t offend you. Have a good night and take care. https://t.co/4u9fj1BNPI — Jim Acosta (@Acosta) October 19, 2018 
 
 Also Read: Jim Acosta to Haters: 'I'm Allowed to Care About This Country' (Video) 
 
 The imbroglio began after Justin Caporale, a GOP consultant and former aide to first lady Melania Trump, attempted to troll Acosta after the CNN reporter complained about loud music at a Trump campaign rally he was covering. 
 
 “Tonight the Trump campaign/WH turned up the music so loud the press risers were vibrating,” said Acosta. “Nearly impossible to do live TV. I suppose the WH loves those kinds of shenanigans. But I wonder if it’s a security concern for USSS or local law enforcement. They can’t hear either.” 
 
 “Dear Diary…..” mocked Caporale. 
 
 Dear Diary….. — justin (@justincap_) October 19, 2018 
 
 That resulted in Acosta sending Caporale a private direct message with a blunt two word rejoinder before subsequently blocking him. Daily Caller reporter Peter Hasson, who was allowed access into Caporale’s Twitter account, confirmed that the message was real and offered by Acosta unsolicited. 
 
 And then he blocked me. pic.twitter.com/F5cq84LAF8 — justin (@justincap_) October 19, 2018 
 
 It’s unclear why Acosta would move to immediately block someone he thought was an “old friend.” Acosta did not immediately respond to request for comment from TheWrap. Reps for CNN declined to comment. Reached by phone, Caporale also declined to comment. 
 
 Acosta has long been a lightning rod among Trump-die hards and a frequent jousting partner for the president at press events. Trump has disparaged him to his face on live television as fake news. When Sarah Sanders held more regular press briefings, her sharp exchanges with the CNN reporter also frequently made headlines. ||||| A direct message sent by CNN Chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta was widely mocked by conservatives late Thursday night. 
 
 It all began with a tweet Acosta made from President Donald Trump‘s rally in Missoula, Montana. 
 
 Tonight the Trump campaign/WH turned up the music so loud the press risers were vibrating. Nearly impossible to do live TV. I suppose the WH loves those kinds of shenanigans. But I wonder if it’s a security concern for USSS or local law enforcement. They can’t hear either. — Jim Acosta (@Acosta) October 19, 2018 
 
 And Justin Caporale — identified as the former director of operations for Melania Trump — trolled him with the following response: 
 
 Dear Diary….. — justin (@justincap_) October 19, 2018 
 
 Well, that apparently got under Acosta’s skin since Justin followed up the tweet with a screenshot from his DMs. 
 
 “F**k you,” Acosta told Justin. 
 
 Peter Hasson verified that the DM was real. 
 
 Can confirm that this is a real message: https://t.co/MNHvM5xDcJ — Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) October 19, 2018 
 
 .@justincap_ allowed me to log into his account and view the message. Here’s a screenshot I took pic.twitter.com/r4F6EpbQAH — Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) October 19, 2018 
 
 And conservatives had some fun at the expense of the CNN journalist. 
 
 Jim: Coke please. Waiter: Is Pepsi okay? Jim: pic.twitter.com/KYWUmCFp2C — Matt’s Idea Shop (@MattsIdeaShop) October 19, 2018 
 
 UPDATE (2:15AM): Acosta offered this apology to Justin, telling him he thought he was an “old friend from the campaign days.” 
 
 Hey buddy I thought you were an old friend from the campaign days. I’m so sorry. Hope I didn’t offend you. Have a good night and take care. https://t.co/4u9fj1BNPI — Jim Acosta (@Acosta) October 19, 2018 
 
 [image via screengrab] 
 
 Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com ||||| President Donald Trump looks on as a White House aide takes away a microphone from CNN journalist Jim Acosta during a news conference in the East Room of the White House, Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2018, in Washington.... (Associated Press) 
 
 President Donald Trump looks on as a White House aide takes away a microphone from CNN journalist Jim Acosta during a news conference in the East Room of the White House, Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (Associated Press) 
 
 NEW YORK (AP) — The White House has suspended the press pass of CNN correspondent Jim Acosta after he and President Donald Trump had a heated confrontation during a news conference. 
 
 They began sparring Wednesday after Acosta asked Trump about the caravan of migrants heading from Latin America to the southern U.S. border. When Acosta tried to follow up with another question, Trump said, "That's enough!" and a female White House aide unsuccessfully tried to grab the microphone from Acosta. 
 
 White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders released a statement accusing Acosta of "placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern," calling it "absolutely unacceptable." 
 
 The interaction between Acosta and the intern was brief, and Acosta appeared to brush her arm as she reached for the microphone and he tried to hold onto it. "Pardon me, ma'am," he told her. 
 
 Acosta tweeted that Sanders' statement that he put his hands on the aide was "a lie." 
 
 CNN said in a statement that the White House revoked Acosta's press pass out of "retaliation for his challenging questions" Wednesday, and the network accused Sanders of lying about Acosta's actions. 
 
 "(Sanders) provided fraudulent accusations and cited an incident that never happened. This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country deserves better," CNN said. "Jim Acosta has our full support." 
 
 Journalists assigned to cover the White House apply for passes that allow them daily access to press areas in the West Wing. White House staffers decide whether journalists are eligible, though the Secret Service determines whether their applications are approved. 
 
 The post-midterm election news conference marked a new low in the president's relationship with journalists. 
 
 "It's such a hostile media," Trump said after ordering reporter April Ryan of the American Urban Radio Networks to sit down when she tried to ask him a question. 
 
 The president complained that the media did not cover the humming economy and was responsible for much of the country's divided politics. He said, "I can do something fantastic, and they make it look not good." 
 
 His exchanges with CNN's Acosta and NBC News' Peter Alexander turned bitterly personal, unusual even for a forum where the nature of their jobs often put presidents and the press at odds. 
 
 "I came in here as a nice person wanting to answer questions, and I had people jumping out of their seats screaming questions at me," said Trump, who talked for nearly 90 minutes despite the run-ins with reporters. 
 
 Acosta asked Trump why the caravan of migrants was emphasized as an issue in the just-concluded midterm races, and he questioned Trump's reference to the caravan as an invasion. 
 
 "You should let me run the country," Trump said. "You run CNN and if you did it well, your ratings would be much better." 
 
 After Acosta asked about the investigation of Russia's involvement in the 2016 election, Trump tried to turn to Alexander, but Acosta continued to ask questions. 
 
 "CNN should be ashamed of itself having you work for them," the president said to Acosta. "You are a rude, terrible person. You shouldn't be working for CNN. The way you treat Sarah Sanders is horrible. The way you treat other people is horrible. You shouldn't treat people that way." 
 
 Alexander came to his colleague's defense. "I've traveled with him and watched him," Alexander said. "He's a diligent reporter who busts his butt like the rest of us." 
 
 "I'm not a big fan of yours, either," Trump replied. 
 
 "I understand," Alexander said, attempting to ask a question. Acosta stood back up and noted the explosive devices that were recently sent to CNN and some of the president's political opponents. 
 
 "Just sit down," Trump said. "When you report fake news, which CNN does a lot, you are the enemy of the people." 
 
 CNN said Trump's attacks on the press have gone too far. 
 
 "They are not only dangerous, they are disturbingly un-American," CNN tweeted after the exchange. "While President Trump has made it clear he does not respect a free press, he has a sworn obligation to protect it. A free press is vital to democracy, and we stand behind Jim Acosta and his fellow journalists everywhere." 
 
 In announcing Acosta's suspension, Sanders said, "The fact that CNN is proud of the way their employee behaved is not only disgusting, it is an example of their outrageous disregard for everyone, including young women, who work in this administration." 
 
 The White House Correspondents' Association released a statement Wednesday saying it "strongly objects to the Trump Administration's decision to use U.S. Secret Service security credentials as a tool to punish a reporter with whom it has a difficult relationship. Revoking access to the White House complex is a reaction out of line to the purported offense and is unacceptable." 
 
 The WHCA called on the White House to "immediately reverse this weak and misguided action." 
 
 During the news conference, Trump also turned on reporter Yamiche Alcindor of PBS' "NewsHour." She said that "on the campaign trail, you called yourself a nationalist. Some people saw that as emboldening white nationalists." Trump interrupted her, calling it a racist question. 
 
 Alcindor pressed on: "There are some people who say the Republican Party is seen as supporting white nationalists because of your rhetoric. What do you say to that?" 
 
 "What you said is so insulting to me," he said. "It's a very terrible thing you said to me." 
 
 Alcindor moved on to a different topic. Later, via Twitter, she said that she has interviewed white nationalists who say they are more excited by Trump than they have been about other presidents. "Even if President Trump doesn't intend it, some see him as directly appealing to the racists," she wrote. 
 
 Trump told Ryan, of American Urban Radio Networks, repeatedly to sit down when she attempted to ask Trump about accusations of voter suppression. He said she was rude for interrupting another reporter, though he did briefly answer one of Ryan's questions. 
 
 ___ 
 
 This story has been corrected to show the NBC News correspondent is named Peter Alexander, not Peter Garrett. ||||| Media critic 
 
 The White House on Wednesday took the next logical step in its campaign against CNN, yanking the hard pass of Jim Acosta, the network’s chief White House correspondent. The move comes after a tense clash between Acosta and President Trump during a post-election news conference on Wednesday, during which the correspondent sought answers on presidential rhetoric on immigration and developments in the special counsel investigation. 
 
 On Wednesday evening, Acosta tweeted about the immediate impact of the White House’s action: 
 
 I’ve just been denied entrance to the WH. Secret Service just informed me I cannot enter the WH grounds for my 8pm hit — Jim Acosta (@Acosta) November 8, 2018 
 
 The US Secret Service just asked for my credential to enter the WH. As I told the officer, I don’t blame him. I know he’s just doing his job. (Sorry this video is not rightside up) pic.twitter.com/juQeuj3B9R — Jim Acosta (@Acosta) November 8, 2018 
 
 During the news conference, Acosta asked the president about his use of the term “invasion” to describe the caravan of migrants making their way north through Mexico toward the U.S. border. Though Trump started the session with cheery words about his party’s exploits in the midterms, he turned sour in his interactions with reporters — especially with Acosta, a longtime target of official ire from White House lecterns. 
 
 “I think you should let me run the country, you run CNN and if you did it well, your ratings would be much better,” replied Trump, who also called Acosta a “rude, terrible person.” As Trump tried to ditch Acosta and take a question from NBC News’s Peter Alexander, Acosta persisted: 
 
 Acosta: But let me ask, if I — if I may ask one other question — President Trump: Okay, that’s enough. Acosta: Mr. President, if I may — if I may ask one other question. Trump: Okay, Peter, go ahead. Acosta: Are you worried — Trump: That’s enough. That’s enough. That’s enough. Acosta: Mr. President, I didn’t — well, I was going to ask one other. The other folks that had — Trump: That’s enough. That’s enough. Acosta: Pardon me, ma’am, I’m — Mr. President . . . 
 
 The “ma’am,” here, is a White House intern who was assigned the undignified task of pulling the microphone from eager-beaver White House reporters, even as their questions were being cut off by the president. The task is a variation on the work performed by so-called White House media “wranglers” who, after ceremonial photo-ops — “pool sprays” in the industry vernacular — shout at reporters and photographers to get the heck out of the room. Clearing out the journalists has become treacherous for the wranglers because Trump can never seem to decide when he’s done answering a question. Wrangling is among the worst jobs in the Trump economy. 
 
 As the intern attempted to grab the microphone away from Acosta and pass it along to Alexander, Acosta wouldn’t surrender it. As he held tight, he said, “Pardon me, ma’am.” Here is the incident from different angles: 
 
 Here’s a gif of the interaction between @Acosta and the intern who tried to pass on the mic to another reporter pic.twitter.com/FaiBzfYNW2 — Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) November 8, 2018 
 
 I was seated next to ⁦@Acosta⁩ at today’s press conference and did not witness him “placing his hands” on the young intern, as the White House alleges. He held on to the microphone as she reached for it. The ⁦@Reuters⁩ pictures below depict what happened accurately. pic.twitter.com/nO68Hf4eQM — Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) November 8, 2018 
 
 In a statement on the matter, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said: 
 
 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 being supportive of a free press in the midst of him taking 68 questions from 35 different reporters over the course of an hour and a half — including several from the reporter in question. The fact that CNN is proud of the way their employee behaved is not only disgusting, it is 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. 
 
 Acosta replied: 
 
 This is a lie. https://t.co/FastFfWych — Jim Acosta (@Acosta) November 8, 2018 
 
 CNN and the White House Correspondents’ Association struck similar themes in statement on the dispute: 
 
 Escalation of this sort wasn’t hard to foresee. At one point, Acosta reported on air that Sanders had made noises about barring him from future pool sprays if he asked the president a question. At another point, Sanders said to Acosta, “I Know It’s Hard for You to Understand Even Short Sentences.” At many other points, Acosta has sparred with Sanders and Trump, often over their anti-media rhetoric. And the president, of course, has anointed CNN first among equals as a target of his never-ending anti-media campaign. 
 
 The Erik Wemple Blog won’t say that Acosta on Wednesday presented a model of perfect decorum. When a White House emissary lunges for the microphone in your hand, give up the microphone and let the president’s petulant insistence on cutting off reporters and moving to other questioners speak for itself. And it speaks loudly: Whatever lines Acosta walked up to in the East Room, Trump, again, walked blissfully across, as he spoke disrespectfully to anyone who dared ask him a difficult question. When a black reporter for the PBS NewsHour, Yamiche Alcindor, asked Trump about the racial dimension of his self-identification as a “nationalist,” Trump accused her of asking a “racist” question. There were several other such examples. 
 
 Still more outrageous is the White House’s yanking of Acosta’s hard pass. The heavy-handed and authoritarian gesture boils down to a chilling reality: Your president has begun choosing who gets to ask him questions. 
 
 How unprecedented is this? From preliminary research, very. The Erik Wemple Blog asked George Condon, a longtime White House reporter and historian on matters such as these. He passed along a piece in Foreign Policy that outlined the case of Robert Sherrill of the Nation, who was denied Secret Service clearance because of the threat he posed to President Lyndon B. Johnson. Condon takes it from there: 
 
 In the early years after the [White House Correspondents’ Association] was founded [in 1914], it was the correspondents themselves who determined credentials to attend presidential press conferences. They often denied access to business publications and to individuals they did not think worked for legitimate publications. That is not comparable to today’s situation. In 1937, [President Franklin Roosevelt] drew very annoyed at questions from a reporter about whether he would run for third term. He didn’t ban him but he insulted him and told him to sit in the corner wearing a dunce cap. (Hard to find a corner in the Oval Office, though.) In 1942, he was furious at columns by John O’Donnell and gave a Nazi Iron Cross to another reporter and asked him to give it to O’Donnell. But he never banned him. Since then, there have been several presidents angry at reporters. But I don’t know of anything comparable to this. 
 
 There is nothing comparable to this — on the issue of White House access and many, many other fronts. 
 
 Read more: 
 
 Republicans lost the House, so Trump took it out on the media 
 
 Not praising Trump enough is now ‘fake news’ 
 
 Fox News correspondent issues on-air correction related to Trump ‘fake news’ tweet 
 
 Cable news networks agree: ‘The stakes could not be higher’ 
 
 Fox News’s Sean Hannity: Proud to be a Trump operative
– One of the reporters who tangles publicly with President Trump the most is himself in a bit of hot water over a tweet. Jim Acosta of CNN has apologized after tweeting "f--- you" (except he spelled it out) to a critic, reports Mediaite. Acosta also maintains that he mistook the person as an old friend, but not everyone is buying that. It all started Thursday night when Acosta tweeted a complaint that the Trump campaign turned up the music so loudly at a Trump rally that it was difficult to work—the implication being that it was deliberate. At that point, a former aide for Melania Trump, Justin Caporale, mocked Acosta with a tweet reading, "Dear Diary ..." That's when Acosta sent his controversial response—he did so in a private direct message, but Caporale then made it public. Acosta also blocked Caporale. As online criticism grew, and Caporale demanded an apology, Acosta responded: "Hey buddy I thought you were an old friend from the campaign days. I’m so sorry. Hope I didn’t offend you. Have a good night and take care." As the Wrap notes, the apology seems a bit odd given that Acosta also blocked Caporale, raising the question of why he would block a friend. Neither Acosta nor CNN has commented further. (Acosta also once tangled memorably with White House aide Stephen Miller.)