Man who ‘threatened to kill CNN host Don Lemon’ arrested

Benjamin Craig Matthews accused of making more than 40 threatening calls from same phone number

Benjamin Craig Matthews was jailed on multiple counts of making terrorist threats and harassing communications (AP)

A man has been arrested after being accused of making threatening phone calls to CNN.

Benjamin Craig Matthews, 39, from Mountain Home, Arkansas, faces multiple counts of making terrorist threats and harassing communications.

He also allegedly made death threats against a CNN host, Don Lemon.

Matthews was taken into custody on Tuesday, the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office announced.

Sheriff John Montgomery said Atlanta police contacted his office to report CNN’s headquarters had received threatening calls between 31 October and 2 November.

The network reported more than 40 such calls were made from the same phone number.

The calls were traced to a cellphone belonging to Matthews, who was also alleged to have made threatening calls to another television network.

He remains in jail on a $15,000 bond.

It comes as the White House suspended the press pass of a CNN correspondent, Jim Acosta, after he and Donald Trump had a heated confrontation during a news conference.

They began sparring on Wednesday after Mr Acosta asked President Trump about the caravan of migrants heading from Latin America to the southern US border.

When Mr Acosta tried to follow up with another question, the president said, “That’s enough!” and a female White House aide unsuccessfully tried to grab the microphone from Mr Acosta.

The White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, released a statement accusing Mr Acosta of “placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern,” calling it “absolutely unacceptable”.

The interaction between Mr Acosta and the intern was brief, and Mr Acosta appeared to brush her arm as she reached for the microphone and he tried to hold onto it.

“Pardon me, ma’am,” he told her.

Mr Acosta tweeted to say Ms Sanders’ statement he put his hands on the aide was “a lie”.

The White House revoked Mr Acosta’s press pass out of “retaliation for his challenging questions” CNN said in a statement, and the network accused Ms Sanders of lying about Mr Acosta’s actions.

“[Sanders] provided fraudulent accusations and cited an incident that never happened. This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country deserves better,” CNN said.

“Jim Acosta has our full support.”

Additional reporting by agencies