Under a federal judge’s order, the Trump administration restored White House access Thursday to journalists from MS NOW, CNN and Politico who had their press passes revoked after President Donald Trump criticized the outlets’ coverage.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly ordered the Trump administration early Thursday to temporarily restore White House access to journalists from the three national news organizations as litigation on the matter continues.
Despite that overnight ruling, MS NOW White House reporter Laura Barrón-López and an MS NOW producer were denied access and had their passes confiscated when they first attempted to enter early Thursday, while another MS NOW producer was granted access. Politico said at least one of its reporters was blocked. CNN said some of its staffers were denied access, but at least one was allowed in.
MS NOW, CNN and Politico filed a notice of noncompliance after their reporters were denied access Thursday morning, asking Kelly to set an immediate hearing. The judge ordered the Trump administration to respond by 12:30 p.m.
Less than an hour before that deadline, MS NOW journalists whose White House passes had been confiscated by the U.S. Secret Service were allowed back onto the grounds.
“I was just allowed back into the White House through the northwest gate,” Barrón-López said on air. “They first cleared me through that outer perimeter, and then I arrived at the northwest gate, showed my government ID again, and was returned my badge.”
Politico said one of its journalists also had a White House pass reinstated.
The Secret Service did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Justice Department referred questions to the White House, which responded to MS NOW’s inquiries more than 12 hours later by referring the outlet to the government’s court filing.
Reporters for MS NOW, CNN and Politico should all immediately regain access to the White House campus for at least 14 days, Kelly wrote in his order. He granted the motion on due process grounds and suggested in his order that the ban is likely unconstitutional.
Kelly declined to set an emergency hearing, calling it moot after the White House restored the passes. The judge set briefing deadlines for the news outlets’ motion for a preliminary injunction — which would amount to a longer-term block on the White House ban — indicating a ruling isn’t expected until after Oct. 5.
Kelly is the same judge who ordered the first Trump administration to temporarily restore then-CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta’s press credentials in a November 2018 ruling. CNN had sued the Trump administration after the White House revoked Acosta’s credentials after a contentious news conference.
After that ruling, the White House sent Acosta a letter indicating it had made a preliminary decision to suspend his hard pass and signaling it was not immediately prepared to back down from the fight.
Three days later, Acosta moved to dismiss the case after the White House told him it had agreed to permanently restore his press pass.
Ted Boutrous Jr., the attorney who represented Acosta in that case, is representing the news organizations in the current one.
“This really is the Acosta case times at least 78, because we had 78 journalists whose hard passes were taken away for with no notice, based on the content of their reporting,” Boutrous told MS NOW’s Nicolle Wallace.
“And in Jim Acosta’s case, they weren’t as explicit that they were doing it because the president didn’t like the reporting,” Boutrous added. “And here, that was the basis: that President Trump thought the reporting was too negative, purposely negative, so it’s really unprecedented. And Judge Kelly got it exactly right.”
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