“The White House Correspondents’ Association strongly objects to the Trump Administration’s decision to use US Secret Service security credentials as a tool to punish a reporter with whom it has a difficult relationship,” the group said in a statement. “We urge the White House to immediately reverse this weak and misguided action.”

The White House had just prior suspended journalist Jim Acosta’s access, hours after he refused to give up the microphone and persisted with questions during a press conference in which Trump branded him an “enemy of the people.”