CNN, MS Now, Politico Sue Trump Over White House Ban

WASHINGTON — The three news organizations that President Donald Trump has barred from entering the White House filed a lawsuit against the administration on Monday.

CNN, MS Now and Politico wrote in a joint statement that the suit is intended “to protect our First Amendment rights and defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes.”

“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.”

Trump announced last week on social media that he intended to bar journalists from those three news organizations, airing a years-long grievance that he doesn’t believe their reporting is accurate.

“I am proud to announce that, effective immediately, I am banning Fake News CNN, MSNOW (who recently changed their name from MSNBC due to lack of viewership and credibility!), and Politico (The recipients of an illegal and ridiculous $8 Million Dollar subscription, an all-time record, directly from the United States Government, under Crooked Joe Biden, in order to keep them “alive.” Seems like corruption to me!), from the White House as a result of their constant “reporting” FAKE NEWS!” he wrote. “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. Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP”

First Amendment cited

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, argued the “ban could not be a more direct assault on the First Amendment nor a more blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles.”

The lawsuit says White House reporters from those news organizations had their press passes, which must be scanned to get through a Secret Service screening, deactivated.

The news organizations say the ban violates the due process clause, “retaliates against protected newsgathering and speech in violation of the First Amendment” and that it bars journalists “from a nonpublic forum for unlawful reasons.”

The president’s decision to exclude those reporters from the White House “inflicts irreparable harm to these news organizations,” according to the lawsuit.

“The organizations, whose very purpose is to report national news, depend on individual reporters to gather information firsthand at the White House,” it states. “As a result of the ban, they have lost the ability to perform essential newsgathering at the seat of the Executive Branch, where critically important newsworthy events occur every day.

“The ban irreparably curtails the organizations’ speech—preventing them from being able to publish stories they otherwise would—each day it remains in effect. The ban also impermissibly chills the speech of other news organizations and journalists, who must now balance conducting their constitutionally protected and vitally important work of reporting on the White House against the risk that coverage the President ‘dislike[s]’ will condemn them to the same fate.”

The case was assigned to Judge Timothy J. Kelly, who was nominated by Trump during his first term and confirmed by the Senate in September 2017 following a vote of 94-2.

TV network coverage of Trump

Trump wrote 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 wrote. “It is corrupt, purposeful, pervasive, fully coordinated, and totally out of control. It is a threat to our National Security, and must be stopped, NOW! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP”

Major television networks don’t plan to fill in for CNN as the television pool covering Trump on Monday, according to an email the network obtained from Fox News Washington Bureau Chief Bryan Boughton, who chairs the TV pool.

“This follows the White House’s position preventing CNN from fulfilling its assigned pool duties,” Boughton wrote, according to the CNN article. “There will be no replacement pool put in place.”

The White House pool rotation includes reporters from the country’s major news organizations, who attend the president’s public events as well as other events that administration staff restrict to only journalists in the pool.

The television pool provides video footage of those events, while the print pooler’s reports about the president’s comments are emailed to reporters at newspapers and online news outlets.

The limited number of reporters from within the White House press corps who participate in the pool are able to ask the president questions during Oval Office events or other restricted appearances.

States Newsroom’s Washington, D.C. Bureau participates in the print pool rotation as part of its membership in the Regional Reporters Association, which represents local news outlets covering the nation’s capital.

by Jennifer Shutt, Virginia Mercury

Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis with questions: info@virginiamercury.com.