CNN, MS NOW and Politico sue Trump administration over White House ban
The case asks a federal court to decide whether a president can bar journalists over coverage he dislikes, a question courts have weighed in earlier disputes involving Jim Acosta and The AP
CNN, MS NOW and Politico filed a First Amendment lawsuit Monday seeking to restore their journalists' access to the White House after President Donald Trump banned the three outlets. The emergency request is set to go before a federal judge in the DC District Court and could bring hearings and legal arguments from the administration as soon as this week.
"This ban could not be a more direct assault on the First Amendment nor a more blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles," the outlets said in their lawsuit. The suit also alleges violations of due process protections.
The complaint cites Fifth Amendment due process rights and names Trump, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, communications director Steven Cheung and Secret Service Director Sean M. Curran as defendants in their government capacities. Reporters Akayla Gardner of MS NOW, Betsy Klein of CNN and Cheyenne Haslett of Politico are also plaintiffs.
Trump announced the ban Friday, saying he did not like "negative stories." "If they want to write them, that's fine. I don't have to let them into the people's house," he said. The president also said he might add others to the list.
On Saturday, the Secret Service denied the three reporters entry to the White House grounds and seized their press passes. CNN and MS NOW are also blocked from using their television equipment and camera locations on the grounds.
In a post on Monday to his social platform Truth Social, the president wrote 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."
Courts have rejected similar attempts to restrict individual reporters or outlets, even recently, and have been clear that journalists cannot be prohibited from covering the White House because of what they publish. The filings point to the precedent set in a 2018 case against Jim Acosta.
Ted Boutrous, who represented CNN in that case in 2018, is now counsel for the three outlets.