CNN, MS NOW and Politico sue Trump administration over White House ban

MS NOW, CNN and Politico sued the Trump administration after their journalists were barred from the White House grounds and had their press passes confiscated. The outlets said the ban violated First Amendment protections for free speech and a free press, while Trump accused them of publishing "fake news."

In Short

• The outlets notified the government before filing in Washington federal court
• Journalists said officials confiscated their White House press passes on Saturday
• Trump accused the organisations of fake news and reporting fiction

MS NOW, CNN and Politico said on Monday that they were suing the Trump administration after President Donald Trump announced that they would be barred from the White House grounds. The three organisations said the case was being brought to protect their First Amendment rights, reported news agency Reuters.

The outlets said they had informed the government that they were filing the lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of Columbia. According to CNN, emergency hearings in the matter could begin as early as this week, reported Reuters.

The move came after the White House on Saturday denied access to journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico, carrying out Trump's announcement that the outlets would be banned from the grounds. Each of the three organisations said separately that their journalists' press passes were confiscated on Saturday morning when they arrived at the White House.

CNN and MS NOW said they would continue reporting on the Trump administration, while Politico said it stood by its reporters covering the White House.

In a social media post on Friday, Trump accused the outlets of “reporting FAKE NEWS” and said they “shouldn't be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they're covering the President of the United States.” He added: “Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow.”

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday, Trump was asked what he meant by other outlets. He referred to The New York Times and The Washington Post as examples of “fake news”, but did not specifically say that he would ban them from the White House.

The New York Times said in a statement that Trump's latest ban was “yet another retaliatory and unconstitutional threat” and that the newspaper “stands in support of the news organizations being unfairly targeted by the president.” The Washington Post said on Saturday that its access to the White House was a “non-negotiable constitutional right”, and described the president's actions as “a clear form of intimidation meant to silence coverage.”

Trump has previously tried to keep certain outlets or individual journalists out of press events. Last year, he barred the Associated Press from the pool of reporters covering his movements because the news agency did not adopt his preferred name for the Gulf of Mexico after he directed the executive branch to call it the Gulf of America. AP has challenged that ban.

During his first term, Trump's White House also sought to revoke or suspend the credentials of Playboy correspondent Brian Karem and CNN's Jim Acosta, but federal judges ordered that their White House press passes be restored. The latest case now centres on the ban on MS NOW, CNN and Politico, their removal from White House access, and their legal challenge to the administration.

- Ends
Inputs from Reuters