Condi might join the Dawg Pound as their head coach.
Former Secretary of State under George W. Bush, Condoleezza Rice could be the first African American woman to coach a NFL team.
There is talk that Rice could be the coach of the struggling Cleveland Browns.
After five games, the Browns severed ties with Hue Jackson. Jackson who served as head coach of the Browns had only two wins and one tie under his belt. He finished the 2017-18 season with 0-17.
Jackson joined the Cincinnati Bengals as special assistant coach a few days ago.
The Browns have the worst record as a NFL team.
If the Browns follow through on it, Rice would become the first woman to interview for an NFL head-coaching job.
After word of the Browns' possible interest in Rice got back to the team, Dorsey issued a statement.
"Our coaching search will be thorough and deliberate, but we are still in the process of composing the list of candidates and Secretary Rice has not been discussed," he said.
Rice also posted Sunday on Facebook that while she's "not ready to coach," she "would like to call a play or two next season if the Browns need ideas."
Rice, 64, is a lifelong Browns fan, a love she developed from watching Cleveland's games with her father at their home in Birmingham, Alabama. She attends some of their games and was spotted on the field with owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam before Cleveland's game in Oakland on Sept. 30.
Cleveland's interest in interviewing Rice comes at a time when women recently have moved into decision-making roles in men's professional sports. The San Antonio Spurs hired Becky Hammon as an assistant coach, the Buffalo Bills hired Kathryn Smith as a quality control assistant, the Oakland Raiders hired Kelsey Martinez to their strength staff and the San Francisco 49ers hired Katie Sowers as an offensive assistant.
A potential interview hardly means the Browns will hire Rice, but they are interested in talking to her about the job and seeing what she could bring to the position and the organization, a source said.
Cleveland Browns is Condi's favorite team. She could be their next coach.
"She's an amazing person," one Browns source told ESPN.
The interview process could even lead to Rice becoming more involved in the organization in an official capacity or as a consultant.
Rice has been featured in a Browns jersey in NFL ads, and there has been speculation that she even could become commissioner of the NFL.
Rice has become more involved in sports, specifically on the collegiate level, since serving as secretary of state under President George W. Bush from 2005 to 2009. She was one of the inaugural members of the College Football Playoff selection committee, where she worked from 2013 to 2016.
Rice also recently chaired a commission on college basketball that recommended major changes to the sport this year, including an end to the one-and-done rule.
The graphic photos of the victims of the Jonestown massacre.
Today, marks 40 years.
The Jonestown mass killing. Mostly people of color were killed when a religious sect leader who founded the People's Temple of the Disciples of Christ casted them false hope and slavery. A religious cult leader named Jim Jones managed to manipulate over 900 people to drink Flavor Aid laced with cyanide in a Guyana settlement.
Jones started the Peoples Temple in Indiana during the 1950s. He was officially ordained in 1956 by the Independent Assemblies of God and in 1964 by the Disciples of Christ. He moved the Temple to California in 1965 and gained notoriety with its activities in San Francisco in the early 1970s. He then relocated to Guyana.
Jim Jones was an activist and civil rights leader. He was also a cult leader and mass murderer.
Everyone in that settlement were killed. The American government was concerned that Jones was holding innocent people against their will. In 1978, media reports surfaced that human rights abuses were taking place in the Peoples Temple in Jonestown.
Jones was a well-armed and well maintained religious leader. He was considered a grifter and a scam artist. When a Democratic lawmaker and staff were boarding an airplane, they were ambushed by the armed security.
The late Leo Ryan was killed by Jones' security after he and his group tried to flee Guyana with People's Temple defectors.
U.S. Representative Leo Ryan led a delegation into the commune to investigate what was going on; Ryan and others were murdered by gunfire while boarding a return flight with defectors. Jones subsequently committed a mass murder-suicide of 918 of his followers, 304 of whom were children, almost all by cyanide poisoning via Flavor Aid.
Jones saw Jonestown as both a "socialist paradise" and a "sanctuary" from media scrutiny that had started with the Kinsolving articles. Former Temple member Tim Carter said the Temple moved to Jonestown because "in '74, what we saw in the United States was creeping fascism."
Carter explained, "It was apparent that corporations, or the multinationals, were getting much larger, their influence was growing within the government, and the United States is a racist place."
Jim Jones, Jr. the adopted son of the religious cultist Jim Jones condemns his father's actions.
Carter said the Temple concluded that Guyana was "a place in a black country where our black members could live in peace", "it was a socialist government" and it was "the only English-speaking country in South America."
Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) was a survivor of a mass shooting. Speier was a congressional aide to then lawmaker Ryan.
Speier was one of two members of the mission who made wills before traveling to Jonestown.
While trying to shield herself from rifle and shotgun fire behind small airplane wheels with other team members, Speier was shot five times and waited 22 hours before help arrived.
Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) is a survivor of the Jonestown massacre.
While some refer to the events in Jonestown as mass suicide, many others, including Jonestown survivors, regard them as mass murder. As many as 70 people may have been injected with poison, and a third of the victims (304) were minors.It was the largest such event in modern history and resulted in the largest single loss of American civilian life in a deliberate act until September 11, 2001.
Black people made up approximately 70% of Jonestown's population. 45% of Jonestown residents were black women.
Black female = 460 (45%)
Black male = 231 (23%)
White female = 138 (13%)
White male = 108 (11%)
Mixed female = 27 (3%)
Mixed male = 12 (1%)
Other female = 13 (1%)
Other male = 10 (1%)
Republicans picks up a Senate seat and retain the governor mansion. Bill Nelson and Andrew Gillum concede. They said that Republicans will destroy democracy.
The end of the road.
After a grueling recount and mishandling of ballots, the Democrats have conceded to the Republicans. The governor and senate race are over. The recount is over and its declared that Republicans won the election.
Andrew Gillum and Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) have conceded to their races.
Gov. Rick Soctt now Sen-Elect and Gov-Elect Ron DeSantis won playing dirty politics. They managed to dog-whistle and fear monger throughout the entire campaign.
Florida a prize for both Democrats and Republicans. Like Ohio, many presidential candidates need the state of Florida to win the White House. Republicans managed to make it more harder for Democrats to win Florida and Ohio with their wacky gerrymandering and dirty gutter politics.
Gillum who managed to outraise and outspend DeSantis would have been one of the first African American governors in the South. He and Stacey Abrams were defeated by Republican tactics where they purge voters, destroy ballots and use racism as tool to win.
59% of white women voted for Ron DeSantis and Rick Scott in this election.
94% of Black women voted for Andrew Gillum and Bill Nelson in this election.
The racists win. Rick Scott leaves the governor's mansion for the Senate. Ron DeSantis leaves the House of Representatives for the governor's mansion. Florida's dirtiest politicians won on racism.
Democratic turnout was high. Even in the wake of numerous mass shootings, that stupid "stand your ground law" and the "hurricane", Republicans managed to win the Sunshine state.
Even former Republican lawmaker and MSNBC contributor David Jolly said that DeSantis and Scott played dirty politics. He left the party because of Donald J. Trump and Republicans acting like a bunch of morons.
Gillum who will return to Tallahassee will have to listen to this asshole who claimed his city is crime-infested. Yeah, the dog whistle. Tallahassee is a majority-minority city and DeSantis will have to reside in the governor's mansion.
On his concession speech, Gillum said that he will work for all Floridians.
"R. Jai and I wanted to take a moment to congratulate Mr. DeSantis on becoming the next governor of the great state of Florida. This has been the journey of our lives."
DeSantis on his part thanked Gillum and promise to work with him. He wants "unity."
Yeah, fucking right. He will continue his partisan bullshit.
"This was a hard-fought campaign. Now it's time to bring Florida together."
I am fed up with Republicans. I am sick and tired of Republicans doing what they do best. We need to get to work. We need to motivate Democrats out to the polls. We need to remind ourselves that progress is work. We will work hard to repress Republican policies. We will reject conservatism/racism/libertarianism and stupidity.
Andrew Gillum and Stacey Abrams' loss hurts. But it's best to dust ourselves off and try harder.
Republicans can't win on rural white voters for much longer. They can't win on just the White vote.
Turkey neck lawmaker Cindy Hyde-Smith. The Mississippi senator is facing a backlash because of her racially charged remarks.
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) is hoping to finish the term. Her runoff election in November 27, and Republicans are scrambling down to Mississippi to help her get over the finish line.
Hyde-Smith, the first female to serve the Magnolia state is struggling. After a handful of remarks on the campaign trail, Democrats see an opening.
The moron said she would attend a "public hanging" if invited by a supporter.
"If he invited me to a public hanging, I'd be on the front row."
That comment was seen as offensive and racist. Rather than apologize, the senator remarked that the junk food media is taking her words out of context.
She said that it was a joke.
Well many didn't take that as a joke. The NAACP and Black lawmakers are not laughing about those remarks.
Then on tape again, she said it would be a good idea if liberal folks don't vote.
Cindy Hyde-Smith on voter suppression: "And then they remind me, that there's a lot of liberal folks in those other schools who that maybe we don't want to vote. Maybe we want to make it just a little more difficult. And I think that's a great idea." Nov 2nd in Columbus, MS. pic.twitter.com/OxNY77XCft
Allegedly, she took a donation from a white extremist. Peter Sieve is a Washington state businessman who has ties to white extremism. He donated $2,700 to the Hyde-Smith campaign.
It was supposed to be an easy race.
Trump, Mike Pence, Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan and others will stomp for the turkey neck Cindy Hyde-Smith.
It became a little more difficult. Hyde-Smith, the former Mississippi Agricultural and Commerce Secretary was selected to fill-in for Thad Cochran.
Cochran abruptly resigned citing health issues. He left early leaving an opening for Democrats. Now they are hoping to win again in the Deep South.
Mike Espy, a former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture under the Bill Clinton administration is running for the seat as well. He hopes that Hyde-Smith's remarks will help turnout the Black vote.
Espy is Black and has a slim chance of winning. The odds say that the Republican has an 87% chance of winning.
Black vote is fairly strong in Mississippi. However, it often seems like Republicans overwhelmingly win the state. Donald J. Trump carried that state by 20 points. He will be campaigning for the Republicans in the coming days.
See in Mississippi, a whole lot of Black people were lynched by white extremists during the 19th and into the 20th Century. It still exist in the 21st Century.
In the history books, the Deep South was dangerous for Black people. If you look a white person in the wrong way, you could be lynched. There were at least 45,000 known lynchings. Public hangings are still allowed in the United States. Lynchings were more lethal. In a public square, a white gathering of residents would watch a black person's body get mutilated, shot, burned and then publicly hung.
The federal government wouldn't be able to convict those involved because the lawmakers looked a blind eye in the South.
What happened in Alabama could happen in Mississippi.
Mike Espy has a slim chance of winning. But the latest antics from his opponent could help him pull an upset. He is with Cory Booker, the senator from New Jersey.
Doug Jones won the U.S. Senate special election in 2017. He beat Roy Moore, a former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice who was accused of molesting nine women. He pulled an upset. Jones won 51% to Moore's 49%.
Jones counted on the Black vote. Black men voted for Jones at 89%. Black women gave vote 98% to Jones. Only 47% of white women for Jones.
Moore would have won the election despite the allegations. Trump campaigned for Moore but never in person.
Sen. Corey Booker (D-NJ) and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) will campaign for Espy.
Trump, Mike Pence, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will be doing last minute rallies for Hyde-Smith. Maybe a special guest like Sean "Softball" Hannity might appear. He certainly gets involved whenever a Republican is accused of being a white extremist.
The softball loves to make Republicans at least tolerable.
Stacey Abrams admits defeat. She slams Brian Kemp and Republicans for their shady tactics.
Georgia Democratic nominee for governor Stacey Abrams slams Republicans and governor-elect Brian Kemp for dirty politics. The former Georgia lawmaker believes many voters were disenfranchised by Kemp and Republicans.
Watching the wait times Georgians faced in urban and poor rural communities, alarms a lot of people.
How the election was ran and how Kemp played should rile up many.
He practically stole the election.
Abrams and Andrew Gillum were the two African American candidates who outraised their Republican opponents. They had statewide and nationwide support from lawmakers and celebrities.
Yet, they failed to win. Many cite the fact that Kemp and Florida's governor-elect Ron DeSantis played upon the most ugliest elements of racism.
Donald J. Trump also threw his racist dog whistle and snarky remarks at the Democrats. Trump had played the race card upon Abrams and Gillum.
Here's the snark of Trump congratulating Kemp.
Congratulations to Brian Kemp on becoming the new Governor of Georgia. Stacey Abrams fought brilliantly and hard - she will have a terrific political future! Brian was unrelenting and will become a great Governor for the truly Wonderful People of Georgia!
On Friday, Abrams acknowledged that Georgia will certify Kemp as the next governor of Georgia. In her concession speech, she said that she is not letting this loss go. She vows to hold Kemp and Republicans accountable.
She will likely file a federal lawsuit against the Georgia Secretary of State, a position Kemp held during the campaign. He resigned two days after being declared the winner.
Abrams said that "democracy has failed" under Republicans.
"So let's be clear -- this is not a speech of concession, because concession means to acknowledge an action is right, true or proper," she said. "As a woman of conscience and faith, I cannot concede that. But, my assessment is the law currently allows no further viable remedy. Now, I can certainly bring a new case to keep this one contest alive, but I don't want to hold public office if I need to scheme my way into the post. Because the title of governor isn't nearly as important as our shared title -- voters. And that is why we fight on."
Abrams had previously described Kemp as an "architect of voter suppression" and in her remarks said he had purposefully made the process a "gut-wrenching hardship" for many in Georgia.
This cuck will be governor. He managed to purge millions of voters.
"Under the watch of the now former secretary of state, democracy failed Georgia," Abrams said of Kemp, who served as the state's chief elections officer for nearly a decade before resigning after overseeing his own contest.
"Make no mistake, the former secretary of state was deliberate and intentional in his actions,"
Abrams said. "I know that eight years of systemic disenfranchisement, disinvestment and incompetence had its desired affect on the electoral process in Georgia."
Abrams also announced she will launch a new voting rights group called "Fair Fight Georgia."
Earlier in the day, Abrams' campaign rolled out a digital ad -- with nearly $100,000 behind it, according to a spokeswoman -- that asks voters to share their stories of trouble at the polls.
In a statement, Kemp said, "Moments ago, Stacey Abrams conceded the race and officially ended her campaign for governor. I appreciate her passion, hard work, and commitment to public service."
He continued, "The election is over and hardworking Georgians are ready to move forward. We can no longer dwell on the divisive politics of the past but must focus on Georgia's bright and promising future."
The Georgia race has stoked a fierce new front in the national battle over voting rights and access to the polls. Kemp, who has promoted and enforced some of the nation's most restrictive voting laws, was accused repeatedly before and during the campaign of seeking to suppress the minority vote.
His victory will keep the Georgia governor's mansion in GOP hands for a fifth consecutive term and demoralize Democrats who hoped to put the state on the presidential map in 2020. Abrams would have been Georgia's and the country's first female African American governor and the first Democrat to win a statewide race there since 2000.
Victory for her pioneering campaign would have instantly transformed Georgia into a 2020 presidential swing state and signaled the beginnings of a potential political realignment in region, which has been growing more diverse and educated as its economy expanded. Instead, Republicans will point to that same economic success as a sustaining force and question -- along with some Democrats -- the wisdom of Abrams' embrace of so many national liberal political stars.
Kemp's win will also please President Donald Trump, who disparaged Abrams, a former state House minority leader, as "not qualified" before the election and campaigned for the two-term secretary of state.
Polling in the days leading up the race showed a dead-heat between Abrams and Kemp, with libertarian candidate Ted Metz notching just enough support to deny the either of the favorites the majority required by Georgia law to win outright and avoid a December run-off. But Kemp ended up clearing 50%.
This disgusting turd named Mike DeWine won the Ohio governor's race. He and Republicans rigged the districts to favor Republicans. So it doesn't matter whether they failed at winning popular vote. They have control of the districts. They win.
Ohio governor-elect is Mike DeWine. He is the current inept Attorney General of the state. For eight years, DeWine sided with the cops when it came to the deaths of people of color. He was a prime enabler of the opioid crisis in the state. He takes dark money from corporations. He is a millionaire. He owns a minor league baseball team in North Carolina. DeWine is a tiny guy with a huge presence in the Dayton region. He lives in Columbus but owns a farm in progressive town Yellow Springs.
Clearly, a seasoned politician, Ohio elected this turd as the governor despite Republicans losing the popular vote.
Even in my own community, Theresa Gasper, outraised and tied with Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) in the Midterms but lost the election.
Turner is a worthless lawmaker who was not popular in the Dayton region. However, he managed to win the votes despite the fact he barely visits the region.
Matter of fact, of all the 16 U.S. Congressional districts, 12 remained Republican and 4 remained Democratic.
The only Democrat to win a national race here was Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), one of the few progressive lawmakers who wears it like a badge of honor. He said that most of the elections in states like Ohio, Florida and Georgia were stolen by Republicans because of shady tactics.
Richard Cordray outraised and outspent DeWine. He either was tied or trailed DeWine by a few points. Yet, the state continued to stay in Republican control in the statehouse.
Just recently, Ohio passed "Stand Your Ground" and "Heartbeat" laws. Instead of working on infrastructure and the trying to save closing hospitals, they want to give reckless Americans more chances to kill people of color. They want to meddle in the business of women by limiting choice clinics and defunding Planned Parenthood.
Then I saw on Twitter a story from Rich Exner of Cleveland.com. He found that the Democrats matched the Republicans on polling, voter registration and popularity.
The Democrats ran much more competitive in total votes for the 116 Ohio House and Senate elections across the state, cleveland.com found in tabulating the unofficial returns.
But the Republicans scored their wins for 63 percent of the seats while collecting just over 50 percent of the total vote.
This is a lot like what happened in Ohio's 16 congressional districts, where Republicans won 75 percent of the seats with just 52 percent of the overall vote.
These are two fresh examples of how skillfully gerrymandered legislative districts can sway the balance of power - especially when one party is in full control of drawing the maps as was the case for the current districts.
He said that the gerrymandering of the districts made it possible. Ohio has one of the worst Congressional District maps in the country. It was deliberately used to help Republicans win elections in Ohio.
Richard Cordray managed to win the popular vote but lose the state. He blames Republicans for rigging the map and making harder for Democrats to win.
Ohioans in 2015 voted to reform the way Statehouse districts will be drawn, beginning in 2021. Then, earlier this year, Ohio voters did the same for congressional districts going forward. The votes for change were not close, passing each time with more than 70 percent support.
The separate reforms carry their own set of rules, but the gist is the same - a new set of 10-year maps cannot be approved without buy-in from both major political parties.
"The problem with gerrymandering is so straight forward and clear cut if you just look at the numbers" from the election returns, said Catherine Turcer, one of the advocates for change as the executive director of Common Cause Ohio.
"I'm so pleased that the voters of Ohio have taken the step to rein in the problem. We deserve to be in control of the elections."
Exner added, the GOP's statewide domination is undisputed. The governor, auditor, secretary of state, treasurer and attorney general will all again be Republicans.
The lone Democratic win statewide was by Sen. Sherrod Brown, a veteran elected to a third term. The Democrats also did win two seats on the Ohio Supreme Court, but the ballot does not identify party affiliation in the Supreme Court races.
Despite the strong showing by the Ohio GOP, the Democrats actually did make significant gains over 2016, argues Richard Gunther, who worked on gerrymandering reform and is a professor emeritus of political science at Ohio State University.
He found the vote margin between Democrats and Republicans in Ohio's congressional races shifted the Democrats' way by an average of 10 percentage points. That was in line, he said, with national trends.
"Ohio did not miss out on the wave at all," Gunther said. "The difference is that gerrymandering was so effective that the Democrats picked up no additional seats."
Jim Acosta and CNN sued Donald J. Trump for press ban. The federal judge ruled in CNN's favor. Trump won't follow the court order.
A federal judge appointed by Donald J. Trump ordered him to reinstate the press pass to CNN and its chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta. Betcha money, Trump won't abide by the order.
U.S. District Court judge Timothy J. Kelly immediately sided with the cable network in its lawsuit against Trump. A few weeks ago, Sarah Huckabee Sanders pulled Acosta's press credentials after a heated confrontation with Trump post election.
While Acosta was preparing for his evening report for Anderson Cooper 360, the U.S. Secret Service stopped him at the second gate and ordered him to relinquish his press passes and security clearance.
Acosta was clearly shocked and angered by the decision. CNN president Jeff Zucker said that the network will hold Trump accountable regardless of his criticism. He said that Trump violated the terms of being......uh I hate saying it.
Zucker said that Trump isn't taking the role of President of the United States seriously. Uh, I hate calling Trump that.
Trump said that CNN was wrong to have him as their reporter.
Infowars released a doctored video with the claims that Acosta manhandled a female staffer after she tried to take the microphone. Turns out that was the reason for Acosta being booted. However, the federal judge said that kookspiracy and a hard question aren't reasons for a press pass removal.
The suit alleges that CNN and Acosta's First and Fifth Amendment rights were violated by last week's suspension of his press pass.
CNN New York headquarters. CNN has studios in Los Angeles, London, Hong Kong and its founding location of Atlanta.
Kelly did not rule on the underlying case on Friday. But he granted CNN's request for a temporary restraining order on Fifth Amendment grounds. And he said he believes that CNN and Acosta are likely to prevail in the case overall.
"Let's go back to work," Acosta said in brief comments outside the courthouse.
The White House said it would follow the court order and "temporarily reinstate the reporter's hard pass."
Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, one of the six defendants in the case, did not specify whether the administration would continue to fight the lawsuit in court. But she said "we will also further develop rules and processes to ensure fair and orderly press conferences in the future. There must be decorum at the White House."
If the White House does not move to settle the case, a legal battle may continue for months.
Kelly read his written opinion from the bench for nearly 20 minutes Friday morning. He sided with CNN on the basis of the suit's Fifth Amendment claims, saying the White House did not provide Acosta with the due process required to legally revoke his press pass.
He left open the possibility that the White House could seek to revoke Acosta's pass again if it provided due process.
The judge went to great lengths to explain what his decision meant — and what it didn't mean — to the attentive audience. Everyone was well-aware of the potentially far-reaching implications of the case, though he emphasized the "very limited" nature of his ruling on Friday.
As Kelly began to offer his view on the components of CNN's request, he said that while he may not agree with the underlying case law that CNN's argument was based on, he had to follow it. "I've read the case closely," he said. "Whether it's what I agree with, that's a different story. But I must apply precedent as I see it."
Only a few weeks ago, we were talking about this white terrorist mailing pipe bombs to CNN and prominent critics of Trump.
Kelly criticized last week's blacklisting of Acosta as "shrouded in mystery," noting that the Justice Department lawyer in the case couldn't even say who ordered the decision.
But he also said that he was not making a judgment on the First Amendment claims that CNN and Acosta have made.
Despite that, Sanders said in her statement, "Today, the court made clear that there is no absolute First Amendment right to access the White House."
The judge did not make that clear.
But he did note that Sanders' initial claim that Acosta had inappropriately touched a White House intern was "likely untrue" and "partly based on evidence of questionable accuracy." Acosta held onto a microphone when an intern tried to take it away during a presidential news conference last week. Later that day, the correspondent's access to the White House was suspended.
Kelly noted that Trump may never call on Acosta again. But that's not relevant to this decision, he said. There needs to be due process regarding the pass.
Kelly was appointed to the bench by Trump last year, and confirmed with bipartisan support in the Senate. CNN chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said the ruling "strikes me as an extremely savvy and wise resolution of this case."
In a statement, CNN said, "We are gratified with this result and we look forward to a full resolution in the coming days. Our sincere thanks to all who have supported not just CNN, but a free, strong and independent American press."
Numerous press freedom advocacy groups also cheered the ruling.
"Today, a major precedent was set for the future of a free press. It is a win for one reporter, but most importantly a win for the Constitution and the enduring freedoms it grants us all," the Georgetown Law's Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection said.
The terrorist faces LIFE in federal time out for mailing bombs to CNN, prominent Democrats and progressive activists.
And the ACLU said "the White House surely hoped that expelling a reporter would deter forceful questioning, but the court's ruling will have the opposite effect."
Most of the country's major news organizations have supported CNN's lawsuit, recognizing that the White House may try to ban other reporters in the future.
CNN has asked the court for "permanent relief," meaning a declaration from the judge that Trump's revocation of Acosta's press pass was unconstitutional. This legal conclusion could protect other reporters from retaliation by the administration.
But the judge will rule on all of that later. Further hearings are likely to take place in the next few weeks, according to CNN's lawyers.
The White House took the unprecedented step of suspending Acosta's access after he had a combative exchange with Trump at last week's post-midterms press conference. CNN privately sought a resolution for several days before filing suit on Tuesday.
The defendants include Trump, Sanders, and chief of staff John Kelly.
Judge Kelly heard oral arguments from both sides on Wednesday afternoon. Kelly asked tough questions of both sides, drilling particularly deep into some of CNN's arguments.
Then he said he would issue a ruling Thursday afternoon. He later postponed it until Friday morning, leaving both sides wondering about the reason for the delay.
In public, the White House continued to argue that Acosta deserves to be blacklisted because he was too aggressive at the press conference.
Speaking with Robert Costa at a Washington Post Live event on Thursday, White House communications official Mercedes Schlapp said press conferences have a "certain decorum," and suggested that Acosta violated that. "In that particular incident, we weren't going to tolerate the bad behavior of this one reporter," she said. Schlapp repeated the "bad behavior" claim several times.
When Costa asked if the White House is considering yanking other press passes. Schlapp said "I'm not going to get into any internal deliberations that are happening."
In court on Wednesday, Justice Department lawyer James Burnham argued that the Trump White House has the legal right to kick out any reporter at any time for any reason — a position that is a dramatic break from decades of tradition.
While responding to a hypothetical from Kelly, Burnham said that it would be perfectly legal for the White House to revoke a journalist's press pass if it didn't agree with their reporting. "As a matter of law... yes," he said.
The White House Correspondents' Association — which represents reporters from scores of different outlets — said the government's stance is "wrong" and "dangerous."
"Simply stated," the association's lawyers wrote in a brief on Thursday, "if the President were to have the absolute discretion to strip a correspondent of a hard pass, the chilling effect would be severe and the First Amendment protections afforded journalists to gather and report news on the activities on the President would be largely eviscerated."
