'You might want to give it a read': A CNN reporter called up the First Amendment after Trump's campaign manager scolded him for asking a question

Susan Walsh/AP

Jim Acosta of CNN listens during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, August 2, 2017.

• During an Easter event at the White House, CNN senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta shouted several questions at President Donald Trump while he was participating in an activity with children.
• Brad Parscale, Trump's 2020 campaign manager, accused Acosta of "breaking protocol" for shouting the questions.
• Acosta shot back; invoking the First Amendment and inviting Parscale to read it.

CNN senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta responded to President Donald Trump's campaign manager who accused him of "breaking protocol" by shouting questions at the Trump.

The encounter between Acosta and the president happened at the White House's Easter Egg Roll on Monday, while Trump was participating in an activity with some children.

"Mr. President, what about the DACA kids, should they worry about what's going to happen to them, sir," Acosta asked Trump.

Acosta referred to Trump's stance on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), the program that shields around 690,000 young unauthorized immigrants from deportation by providing two-year, renewable permits. Earlier on Monday, Trump tweeted "DACA is dead because the Democrats didn't care or act." Trump tweeted a similar comment on DACA a day earlier.

"The Democrats have really let them down," Trump replied to Acosta.

"Didn't you kill DACA, sir? Didn't you kill DACA," Acosta asked.

After the exchange, Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale suggested Acosta be suspended and have his press credentials pulled for shouting his questions.

"I think the White House should pull credentials because he yelled questions, as he continues to do at inappropriate times, while the President was coloring books with children," Parscale said on Twitter. "Disrespectful and would have never been allowed previously."

Acosta replied to Parscale's tweet: "Just doing my job.. which is protected by the First Amendment of The Constitution. You might want to give it a read."

Other conservative personalities agreed got behind Parscale's criticisms. Some implied that Acosta's actions would only "create new Trump voters."

Andrew Beatty, a correspondent for the AFP, shed some light on why reporters sometimes shout their questions when they have an audience with the president:

"Everyday the White House pool - about 16 reporters - goes into various 'sprays', receptions, cabinet meetings to see what the president is up to. I've done thousands of these things. We almost always 'shout' questions," Beatty said on Twitter.

"There is no 'protocol', but we try to be respectful - not screaming across the Oval, not interrupting him, leaving when he says 'thank you', matching the solemnity of the occasion, not asking him about porn stars in front of little kids, or the First Lady… you get the idea," Beatty added.

Beatty asserted the tense dynamic between the White House and reporters is fueled by the Trump administration's "unwillingness to be accountable."

"I don't know a WH reporter who isn't mindful of the history of this place. We try to treat it, and him, with decorum, even if that is not reciprocated," Beatty said.