THE White House has suspended CNN reporter Jim Acosta’s unescorted access to parts of the White House, after an angry clash with the president earlier today.

“As a result of today’s incident, the White House is suspending the hard pass of the reporter involved until further notice,” Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

The move was taken as he had placed “his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern”, she said.

Reporters granted a ‘hard pass’ are able to come and go from the media rooms of the White House as they please. Acosta, however, will now need requests for access approved and be acommpanied by a White House escort.

But CNN has issued a statement rejecting the accusation as a ‘lie’.

“In (the) explanation, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders lied. She provided fraudulent accusations and cited an incident that never happened”.

The expulsion came after a White House aide attempted to seize the microphone from Acosta’s possession as the President berated him. As she reached to grab the wireless mic, Acosta appears to brush his wrist against her arm.

“This conduct is absolutely unacceptable,” Ms Sanders stated. “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.”

Trump had labelled Acosta “a rude, terrible person” after calling on the reporter to ask a question. When challenged about a using the word ‘invasion’ in relation to a migrant caravan of Central American immigrants, Trump interjected — saying “here we go”.

When Trump turned to ask another journalist to offer a question, Acosta temporarily resisted handing over the microphone.

CNN producer Allie Malloy said: “This is a complete lie. The woman grabbed Jim’s arm repeatedly. He never once touched her. In fact at one point Acosta tells her politely ‘pardon me, mam’ as she’s yanking on his arm.”

CNN says the revocation of Acosta’s press credentials was “done in retaliation for his challenging questions”.

“This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country deserves better. Jim Acosta has our full support”.

CONFRONTING QUESTIONS
During the raucous news conference that lasted close to 90 minutes, Trump cast congressional election results as “very close to complete victory” for Republicans and said he could negotiate easier on some issues with Democrats, anyway.

“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.

Then reporters pushed him on whether his campaign rhetoric on migrants from Central America was divisive — and on developments in a federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Trump aggressively pushed back.

“CNN should be ashamed of itself, having you working for them,” Trump told CNN correspondent Jim Acosta.

Mr Trump laid into a CNN star — the latest in a long history of testy exchanges between the pair — after Acosta refused Mr Trump’s orders to sit down and give up the microphone during a press conference.

Mr Trump appeared ready to walk out as Acosta clung to the microphone and persisted with questions about the president’s views on a caravan of Central American migrants making its way to the US border.

When asked if he had “demonised immigrants” during the midterms campaign, Mr Trump replied: “No, I want them to come into the country. But they have to come in legally.”

Acosta persisted, saying: “They are hundreds of miles away. That is not an invasion.”

At that point, the president snapped.

“Honestly, I think you should let me run the country. You run CNN, and if you did it well, your ratings would be higher,” Trump said.

As the reporter continued, Mr Trump declared: “That’s enough, put down the mic” and walked away from his own podium, as if leaving.

An aide attempted to grab the microphone from Acosta, who nevertheless tried to shout out one last question.

‘ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE’
Waving his finger, Mr Trump berated Acosta. “You are a rude, terrible person. You shouldn’t be working for CNN,” he said.

When NBC reporter Peter Alexander took the mic for the next question, he defended Acosta as a “diligent reporter” — earning Mr Trump’s ire.

“I’m not a fan of yours either. To be honest. You aren’t the best,” he said.

At that point, Acosta stood back up and mentioned, without a microphone, the explosive devices that had been sent to CNN and some of the president’s political opponents.

“Just sit down,” Trump replied. “When you report fake news, which CNN does a lot, you are the enemy of the people.”

CNN responded to the altercation saying Mr Trump’s attacks on the press had “gone too far”.

“They are not only dangerous, they are disturbingly un-American. 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.”

But it didn’t end there. To PBS NewsHour’s Yamiche Alcindor, who asked him about white nationalists being emboldened by Mr Trump labelling himself a “nationalist”, Mr Trump said he was insulted.

“That’s such a racist question,” Mr Trump said. “To say that, what you said, is so insulting to me,” he said. “It’s a very terrible thing you said to me.”

Mr Trump took the rare step of mocking Republican candidates who kept their distance from him during the campaign because of concerns that his divisive messages on immigration would turn off voters.

“Carlos Curbelo, Mike Coffman — too bad, Mike,” he said, referring to losing Republican congressmen in Florida and Colorado contests.

Mr Trump scorned Utah’s Mia Love and Virginia’s Barbara Comstock. “Mia Love gave me no love,” he said.

“And Barbara Comstock was another one. I mean, I think she could have won that race, but she didn’t want to have any embrace.”

Mr Trump also took aim at Democrats during the combative press conference the day after the Republican Party lost the House of Representatives in the US midterm elections.

Mr Trump warned House Democrats about spending the remaining years of his presidency investigating him and the administration.

Democrats won back control of the House and many have threatened to use the subpoena power they will gain in January to investigate Mr Trump and his administration’s actions.

Mr Trump hit back, calling it “investigation fatigue”, claiming that Democrats have “nothing, zero” on him.

Earlier, Mr Trump and Democrats, emboldened by seizing control of the House of Representatives, fired off warning shots to each other even before the dust had settled on Tuesday’s vote.

“We will conduct the investigations that Republicans wouldn’t conduct,” Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell of California said on the Today show in the US.

“We’ll fill in the gaps on the Russia investigations,” he said of the probe by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into whether the Trump presidential election campaign colluded with Moscow. “American people will see his tax returns.”

Former President Barack Obama called the Democratic win — the first time they have regained control of the House in eight years — as “a start”.

Hillary Clinton’s 2016 communications director also tweeted: “Much love to all Americans who made this a better Wednesday.”

But Mr Trump made it clear he would not take the defeat, or the Democrat’s warning, lying down.

“If the Democrats think they are going to waste Taxpayer Money investigating us at the House level, then we will likewise be forced to consider investigating them for all of the leaks of Classified information, and much else, at the Senate level,” he tweeted.

“Two can play that game!”

It wasn’t clear what “leaks” he was referring to.

“The president’s not nervous about anything,” Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway added on CNN.

TROUBLED TIMES AHEAD
With Democrats now in control of the House, President Trump faces a tough test of whether he can forge compromises with a group of politicians who, he had warned his supporters, would wreck the US economy.

The president has floated the possibility of agreements with Democrats to boost spending on America’s infrastructure and to limit drug prices. Yet the poisonous atmosphere in Washington, mandated federal spending limits and a potential duel over the government’s borrowing authority make it difficult to achieve any deals that would boost growth.

Over the next two years, most economic and market analysts foresee mainly entrenched gridlock in Congress. Many think the two sides will mostly manoeuvre for public favour while looking toward the 2020 presidential election year.

At a news conference, Trump reiterated his desire to reach some agreement on infrastructure spending — to rebuild roadways, rail stations or airports, for example — among other priorities. But to achieve any real breakthrough, he would have to compromise with Democrats who won office largely by opposing his plans to restrict immigration, his efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, his deficit-funded tax cuts and his opposition to gun control in the aftermath of mass shootings.

That said, most economists don’t think a stalemate in Congress would necessarily depress growth. The $20 trillion US economy — the world’s largest — relies far more on the health of the global economy and the willingness of consumers and businesses to spend rather than on any government actions.