CNN, MS NOW and Politico file lawsuit to regain White House access

Washington — CNN, MS NOW and Politico announced Monday that the news organizations are suing the Trump administration over President Trump’s ban of the news outlets from the White House, arguing the ban was unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds.

Mr. Trump said Friday in a Truth Social post that he was barring CNN, MS Now, and Politico from the White House, in the Trump administration’s latest move to target news outlets for what he views as disfavorable coverage.

In a joint statement on Monday, the three news organizations said they are suing to immediately restore access after they were denied entry on Saturday and had their press passes revoked. 

“There could not be a more direct assault on the First Amendment,” the legal motion from the news organizations said. “Presidents from the earliest days of the Republic have disagreed with and complained about the tenor and content of press coverage of their administrations.”

Mr. Trump posted on social media on Monday morning that the White House “is not instituting an assault on the Free Press, something which I cherish. It is instituting an assault on the FAKE NEWS, something that has grown like Cancer in our beloved United States of America.” He also wrote in a separate social media post, “FAKE NEWS IS A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY, and I will do whatever is necessary to make sure that the U.S.A. thrives.” 

The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, who was appointed to the federal bench by Mr. Trump during his first term. Kelly oversaw a lawsuit brought by former CNN reporter Jim Acosta during the first Trump administration after the White House moved to revoke his access. The judge sided with Acosta after CNN sued and ordered his press pass to be restored, finding Acosta’s due process rights under the Fifth Amendment had been violated. The White House obeyed the order.

The lawsuit is asking a Washington, D.C., judge to move quickly to prevent further action from the White House on the ban. CNN is scheduled to be traveling with the president on Monday as the network pool team. Without a replacement on Monday, there will no television network traveling with Mr. Trump — an unprecedented move. 

The motion says they have notified the Trump administration of their intent to sue. The lawsuit names Mr. Trump and three of his top aides — Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, as well as spokesperson Steven Cheung and Secret Secret chief Sean Curran. 

Speaking to reporters after the announcement on Friday, Mr. Trump said there is “no reason” why the ban was issued when it was, and suggested it wasn’t in response to any specific incident.

“I don’t think somebody should be allowed to come and write fake stories. They’re fake news. And they have no credibility,” Mr. Trump said. “Now, if they want to write them, that’s fine, but I don’t have to let them into my —  into the people’s house.”

Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press President Bruce Brown called the ban “flatly unconstitutional.” He said the decision to block the outlets from White House grounds was “textbook viewpoint discrimination and will be quickly struck down by the courts if challenged.” 

The Trump administration has attempted to remove media outlets from the White House and other spaces in the past. Last year, Mr. Trump barred The Associated Press from attending certain White House events after the news outlet refused to conform to Mr. Trump’s proclamation that the Gulf of Mexico was now the “Gulf of America.” 

The wire service sued on First Amendment grounds shortly afterwards, and while a federal judge in D.C. initially ruled that the White House must restore the news outlet’s access, an appeals court later allowed the ban to take effect. 

The appellate ruling hinged on the fact that the AP was blocked from certain restricted spaces like the Oval Office and Air Force One that only a small subset of the White House press corps can access — a narrower policy than the outright ban imposed on CNN, MS NOW and Politico. The appeals court judges said the White House can’t ban journalists from spaces that are “generally open to the press,” like the briefing room, based on their viewpoint.

As the legal process played out, the White House assumed control of the press pool, a small, rotating group of journalists who cover the president every day and disseminate information and footage to other news outlets. The print press pool works in rotation so that wire outlets, including the AP, are now not granted access to spaces like Air Force One or the Oval Office as frequently as they once were.

The administration has also curbed news outlets’ access to the Pentagon. Last year, the Defense Department required journalists with daily access to the building to sign onto a slew of rules, including one that suggested reporters who “solicit” sensitive information could be deemed a security risk and kicked out of the Pentagon. Most news outlets — including WTX US News, ABC News, NBC News, Fox News and CNN — declined to sign and left the Pentagon.

After a judge struck down some of those rules earlier this year, the Defense Department changed course and began requiring any reporters on Pentagon grounds to be escorted by government personnel. An appeals court allowed that policy to remain in place.