Judge orders White House to restore CNN, MS NOW and Politico access

A federal judge ordered the White House to restore CNN, MS NOW and Politico access for now. The ruling intensifies a wider fight over due process, press freedom and presidential power.

In Short

• Judge Timothy Kelly found the outlets likely denied due process
• The restraining order stays in force for 14 days during proceedings
• Kelly rejected claims the pass revocations were driven by security concerns

A federal judge in the US has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House grounds, ordering that their access be restored. In a late-night ruling, US District Judge Timothy Kelly said the three outlets must have their access "immediately return, reinstate, and restore" while the case moves ahead.

The order gives the outlets a temporary reprieve in an escalating clash between Trump and news organisations whose coverage he has criticised. Trump announced the ban on Friday, attacking what he called "fake news", and later said the reporting posed a risk to national security. The three outlets argued in a joint lawsuit that the move violated the First Amendment because they were being singled out for the content of their reporting.

Kelly said the outlets had met the legal standard for a temporary restraining order, which will remain in effect for 14 days. He wrote, "This is a high bar, but Plaintiffs have met it," and said they were likely to succeed in showing that their press passes had been revoked without due process.

A few hours after the ruling, however, a CNN reporter said she was denied entry to the White House compound. The White House did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Kelly, who was nominated by Trump in 2017 and restored a CNN reporter's access in a similar case in 2018, said the government must have clear standards for conduct that could lead to a press pass being revoked. He said the standard of objectionable reporting set out in White House letters to the outlets was "so vague it hardly does the trick". He also rejected the administration's national security argument, writing: "Nothing in the record ... suggests that the revocation of Plaintiffs' hard passes was motivated by national security concerns."

The judge issued the ruling after hearing arguments in an emergency hearing on Wednesday. Temporary restraining orders are generally meant to preserve the status quo while the court takes a closer look at a case. Theodore Boutrous Jr., the lawyer for the outlets, said in an emailed statement, "This is a strong ruling vindicating freedom of the press, due process and the rule of law. We greatly appreciate the court's swift action."

At the hearing, Boutrous said there was an urgent need to restore access because the ban was causing irreparable harm at a time of major developments. "We're at war. We have world leaders coming to Washington," he said. Justice Department lawyer Michael Velchik argued that the president had the authority to decide who gets into the White House, saying, "Access to the White House is a privilege, not a right." He also said, "The president should be able to take immediate action to protect national security."

Boutrous replied, "Suddenly it's a national security case," arguing that Trump raised that point only after the lawsuit was filed. He said Trump "keeps proving our point" by repeatedly using negative coverage as the reason for the ban. Kelly appeared to agree, writing that when Trump first announced the ban, he had focused on what he saw as the outlets' lack of truthfulness and negative coverage, not national security.

In a court filing on Tuesday, administration lawyers referred to letters sent to each outlet listing "a non-exhaustive list of reporting incidents, including those that have threatened national security and spread falsehoods". Among the examples cited were CNN's reporting on "top-secret" construction details linked to the East Wing bunker, MS NOW's reporting on an alleged leak investigation, and Politico's publication of a document on funding for the White House ballroom that included detailed references to planned Secret Service security improvements.

Politico's letter also referred to a June report in which a "senior administration official ... granted anonymity" predicted whether a preliminary deal would end the conflict with Iran. That appeared to refer to a background briefing arranged by the White House itself, where an official spoke to reporters anonymously under rules set by the administration. Several other outlets also reported those remarks.

The ban also triggered a wider response from the media. The US network press pool, made up of the five major networks including CNN, suspended coverage of Trump's pool events until further notice. Kelly's ruling did not deal with that rotating pool. Even after Wednesday's hearing, the networks continued the action. At Joint Base Andrews, where Trump formally welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping, journalists from Fox News, CBS and NBC were present but were not filming. Other television outlets at the scene included NewsNation, Newsmax, Right Side Broadcasting Network, One America News and LindellTV.

Before the hearing, other news groups, including The Associated Press, filed a brief urging the court to restore the three outlets' White House access immediately. For now, Kelly's order has given CNN, MS NOW and Politico temporary relief, while keeping the wider legal fight over access, due process and press freedom alive.

With PTI Inputs

- Ends