Trump blocks CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from White House access; outlets sue

CNN, MS NOW, and Politico filed a federal lawsuit Sept. 21 seeking to restore their journalists’ White House access after President Donald Trump announced that the three organizations would no longer receive access over coverage he described as “fake news.” 

“Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America,” Trump said in a Sept. 18 Truth Social post announcing the ban, which he said would be immediate.

He said other “Fake News Media Outlets,” which he did not identify, would face bans later. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office that day, Trump said the decision stemmed from “cumulative stories over the last few years.” He called the move a “very simple ban,” adding that he did not want reporters from the three organizations in his office or elsewhere in the White House.

Secret Service officials began denying the outlets’ reporters access to the White House grounds Sept. 19, according to AP News. 

The outlets’ lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleges that the administration revoked their press credentials without notice or an opportunity to appeal because Trump objected to their reporting. The outlets argue that the ban constitutes viewpoint discrimination and violates the First Amendment as well as the Fifth Amendment’s due process protections.

“This morning, we notified the government that we are filing a lawsuit today to protect our First Amendment rights and defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes,” the outlets said in a joint statement Sept. 21.

“Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists’ credentials because it objected to our reporting,” the statement continued. “Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference.”

The lawsuit asks the court to block enforcement of the ban and restore the journalists’ access while the case proceeds.

Also on Sept. 21, the five networks that operate the White House television pool — CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox News — declined to replace CNN after the White House removed the network from its scheduled turn to provide pooled coverage of Trump’s trip to New York for the United Nations General Assembly. The networks take turns recording presidential appearances and distribute the footage to other news organizations around the world. 

“Effective today, the TV pool will not be covering events designated as pool coverage of the President,” Bryan Boughton, Fox News’ Washington bureau chief and television pool chair, wrote in an email to the rest of the White House press corps, according to the New York Post. “This follows the White House’s position preventing CNN from fulfilling its assigned pool duties. There will be no replacement pool put in place.”

The suspension applied only to the shared television pool’s coverage of presidential events, according to the Post, meaning that print, radio, and wire-service reporters will continue covering Trump’s travel.

Trump defended the ban against criticism early Sept. 21, saying on social media that the White House was not “instituting an assault on the Free Press, something which I cherish” but rather an “assault on the FAKE NEWS, something that has grown like Cancer in our beloved United States of America.” 

“It is corrupt, purposeful, pervasive, fully coordinated, and totally out of control,” he added. “It is a threat to our National Security, and must be stopped, NOW!”

Vice President JD Vance also defended the move, saying Trump was “not banning media outlets” but withdrawing their special access.

“What he’s doing is saying, ‘We’re not going to give you special access to the White House if you engage in what is effectively propaganda,’” Vance told reporters Sept. 21, arguing that the move is not an attack on free speech because outlets “can still report on the Trump White House.”