A federal judge ruled against the White House for revoking the press pass of Playboy correspondent Brian Karem, a CNN contributor, over a Rose Garden confrontation in July with former White House aide Sebastian Gorka.
U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras, a Barack Obama appointee, handed down the ruling, marking the second time a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to reinstate a reporter’s pass, according to Fox News.
“White House events appear to vary greatly in character,” Contreras wrote in his opinion. “Thus, without any contextual guideposts, ‘professionalism,’ standing alone, remains too murky to provide fair notice here.”
“Karem has shown that even the temporary suspension of his pass inflicts irreparable harm on his First Amendment rights,” the judge concluded.
In November, a judge ordered the White House to restore the credentials of CNN’s narcissistic reporter Jim Acosta after then-press secretary Sarah Sanders pulled his “hard pass.”
Karem took to social media to celebrate and praise his attorney — he used the same attorney CNN used in challenging Acosta’s revocation.
In a juvenile-like manner, he tagged President Trump, as he declared: “Free Speech and Due process win!”
Thank you to @BoutrousTed and his fantastic team. Free Speech and Due process win!
— Brian J. Karem (@BrianKarem) September 3, 2019
In a further display of childish one-upmanship, Karem tweeted a photo of himself in the White House briefing room, prompting a social media user to reply: “It’s just that kind of snarky, fatalistic attitude that got you kicked out in the first place.”
It’s just that kind of snarky, fatalistic attitude that got you kicked out in the first place.
— Karen Leavitt (@kleavitt) September 4, 2019
The explosive encounter with Gorka was marked by the “journalist” challenging the former White House aide to out to “go outside” — never mind they were in the Rose Garden at the time.
A Secret Service agent intervened to prevent further escalation after Gorka called his bluff.
Gorka explodes on ‘punk’ CNN analyst after he throws insults, challenges him to a fight at Rose Garden https://t.co/DLUUgzQ5Ei via @BIZPACReview
— Jack Furnari (@JackBPR) July 12, 2019
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, who said Karem had violated the standards of “professionalism” and “decorum” and suspended him last month for 30 days, disagreed with the ruling.
“We disagree with the decision of the District Court to issue an injunction that essentially gives free reign to members of the press to engage in unprofessional, disruptive conduct at the White House,” Grisham said in a statement.
“Mr. Karem’s conduct, including threatening to escalate a verbal confrontation into a physical one to the point that a Secret Service agent intervened, clearly breached well-understood norms of professional conduct,” she added. “The Press Secretary must have the ability to deter such unacceptable conduct.“
But then, Karem has an established track record of confrontations, as seen when he screamed at Sanders last year over the treatment of illegal immigrant children.
CNN’s Brian Karem gets personal, screams at Sanders over immigration: ‘Don’t you have any empathy?!’ https://t.co/KbhjTj8QH8 pic.twitter.com/vxIyKYe8hx
— Conservative News (@BIZPACReview) June 15, 2018
If that’s not enough to bring you to question Karem’s journalist credentials, author James Hassin took to Twitter to share a few other examples of the reporter’s actions.
Now seems like a good time to remind everyone that Brian Karem—who works as a CNN political analyst and was defended by the WHCA—has a remarkable record of encountering folks on the street who give him twitter-ready quotes that magically confirm his worldview. https://t.co/J2ZTzeN1tw
— James Hasson (@JamesHasson20) September 4, 2019
There was the time that Brian was apparently working alongside a 85+ year old German reporter who compared the Trump era to Nazi-era Germany pic.twitter.com/JGEiBL8gR5
— James Hasson (@JamesHasson20) September 4, 2019
There was also the time that Brian encountered an Afghanistan veteran whose son was now serving in Afghanistan…an hour after The Onion tweeted out an identical “story.” pic.twitter.com/Upfw25OrM0
— James Hasson (@JamesHasson20) September 4, 2019
Of course, there’s also the time that Brian was apparently wearing his press credentials in full view on the metro (?), and a young boy both recognized what they meant and asked Brian why Donald Trump hated him. pic.twitter.com/cX6dfHn88q
— James Hasson (@JamesHasson20) September 4, 2019
Here’s a sampling of other responses from Twitter:
It’s obvious @BrianKarem is an activist posing as a reporter when it suits him, falls back on political analyst so he can lob bombs at republicans. Incredibly dishonest
— Jimmy Two Shoes (@JimmyTw13837513) September 4, 2019
Dudes been a clown for a while https://t.co/w8v23BEOds
— Kurt Berkes (@KurtBerkes) September 4, 2019
If only he would encounter morals, dignity and truth…
— VeganKing (@Ironfistmonk) September 4, 2019
My 2 year old just read this and asked me how he could be an objective journalist while being so passionately left wing. I didn’t know how to respond.
— N35Bo (@N35Bo) September 4, 2019
@BrianKarem is what we in flyover country call a ‘clown’. I don’t mean it in the lovable ‘circus’ bring kids cheer way either.
— Already Rich (@AlreadyTooRich) September 4, 2019
Since when is threatening someone with violence “Free Speech”?
— ALX ?? (@alx) September 3, 2019
Congratulations. Now people can all claim they are joking when they threaten members of the press. Just a “caustic joke”, right?
— Dwayne Wolski (@Nowifightback) September 4, 2019
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