A judge is expected to announce Friday whether he will order the Trump administration to return the White House press credentials... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this Nov. 14, 2018, photo, CNN's Jim Acosta walks into federal court in Washington, to attend a hearing on a legal challenge against President Donald Trump's administration. In a victory for the cable network and for press access generally, U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly granted CNN’s motion for a temporary restraining order that will prevent the administration from keeping Acosta off the White House grounds. The White House revoked the reporter’s press pass last week after a heated exchange between him and Trump and a brief altercation with a press aide at a news conference. CNN had asked the judge to force the White House to immediately hand back the credentials that give Acosta, CNN's chief White House correspondent, access to the White House complex for press briefings and other events. CNN asked for Acosta's credentials restored while a lawsuit over his credentials' revocation goes forward. Hours after the judge’s decision, Acosta resumed his post at the White House. In this Nov. 14, 2018, photo, CNN's Jim Acosta walks into federal court in Washington, to attend a hearing on a legal challenge against President Donald Trump's administration. who made the decision.” The White House’s later written arguments for banning Acosta were belated and were not sufficient to satisfy due process, Kelly said. and the other media and press in the room won’t be happy.” 
 
 White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement after the ruling that “the court made clear that there is no absolute First Amendment right to access the White House,” although the judge actually said reporters have such rights once admitted. On Tuesday, Sanders accused Acosta of being unprofessional by trying to dominate the questioning at the news conference. But that rationale disappeared after witnesses backed Acosta's account that he was just trying to keep the microphone, and Sanders distributed a doctored video that made it appear Acosta was more aggressive than he actually was. Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign has used the CNN lawsuit to drum up contributions, portraying the suit as evidence of “liberal bias” — an assertion Boutrous brought up Wednesday in asserting that Trump had political reasons for banning Acosta.
– Score one for CNN over the White House. A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to immediately return the White House press credentials of reporter Jim Acosta, per the AP. US District Court Judge Timothy Kelly, an appointee of President Trump, announced his decision following a hearing in Washington. CNN had asked for Acosta's credentials restored while a lawsuit over his credentials' revocation goes forward. “I just want to thank all my colleagues in the press who supported me this week," said Acosta, per the Washington Post. "I want to thank the judge [for this ruling]. And let’s go back to work.” The White House revoked Acosta's credentials after he and Trump tangled during a press conference last week. The judge said the government could not say who initially decided to revoke Acosta's hard pass. The White House had spelled out its reasons for revoking his credentials in a tweet from White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, who accused Acosta of "placing his hands" on a female intern trying to take away his microphone. But the judge said those "belated efforts were hardly sufficient to satisfy due process." The judge also found that Acosta suffered "irreparable harm," dismissing the government's argument that CNN could just send other reporters to cover the White House in Acosta's place. (Video of the dispute was controversial, too.)