In an exclusive interview with "Fox News Sunday" that will air this weekend, President Donald Trump responded to the temporary reinstatement of CNN correspondent Jim Acosta's press pass and told Chris Wallace, "if he misbehaves, we'll throw him out."
When asked about the judge's ruling that the White House must reinstate Acosta's press pass, Trump said the White House is establishing rules of decorum, but if Acosta violates them, he'll be back out.
"Yeah, it’s fine. I mean, it’s not a big deal," Trump told Wallace. "What they said though is that we have to create rules and regulations for conduct, etc., etc. We’re doing that. We're going to write them up right now. It’s not a big deal. And if he misbehaves, we’ll throw him out, or we’ll stop the news conference."
The White House revoked Acosta's press pass in response to his antics at a press conference last week, as the Free Beacon previously reported.
Acosta frequently receives criticism for showboating and editorializing in his questioning of Trump and Sanders. He drew Trump's ire last week when he asked aggressive questions about the migrant caravan and Russia, at one point accusing the president of demonizing immigrants.
When told to sit down by Trump, Acosta refused to give up the microphone to a surprised White House intern. Trump snapped at him that he was a "rude, terrible person." Acosta's hand appeared to graze the intern's arm, leading Sanders to charge that he had placed "his hands on a young woman."
According to Trump, the White House is currently writing the rules and regulations for conduct that will ensure decorum is kept and establish procedures for dealing with individuals who violates the rules.
"We’re writing them now. We’ll have rules of decorum," Trump said before going on to specifically talk of Acosta's behavior at last week's press conference. "You know, you can’t keep asking questions. We had a lot of reporters in that room – many, many reporters in that room. And they were unable to ask questions because this guy gets up and starts doing what he’s supposed to be doing for him and for CNN and just shouting out questions and making statements too."
The president reiterated his support for the First Amendment and said he thinks other reporters will also be upset if a reporter, like Acosta, acts out of line.
"I will say this, look, nobody believes in the First Amendment more than I do," Trump said, "and if I think somebody is acting out of sorts, I will leave. I will say, 'thank you very much everybody, I appreciate you coming,' and I’ll leave. And those reporters will not be too friendly to whoever it is that’s acting up."