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

Three news organizations — MS NOW, CNN and Politico — sued President Donald Trump and several top administration officials for blocking reporters’ access to the White House, alleging that the ban constitutes viewpoint discrimination that violates the First Amendment.

The news outlets on Monday asked a federal judge in Washington, D.C., to immediately block the ban and restore both press credentials and access to the affected journalists. On Saturday, reporters for each of the news organizations, including MS NOW, attempted to enter the White House and their badges were confiscated.

“The President banned CNN, MS NOW, and POLITICO, and the individual reporters covering the news for those media organizations, in disregard of the most basic guarantees of the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause,” the lawsuit says. “He did so expressly for the improper purpose of retaliating against Plaintiffs for past news coverage because he deemed it ‘negative’ and chilling future reporting about him and his administration’s policies and actions.”

“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 complaint continues.

Shortly after the suit was filed, U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly was assigned to the case. Kelly, a Trump appointee, is the same judge who presided over CNN’s 2018 lawsuit to restore the press credentials of then-Chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta. Kelly granted the network’s request and ordered the Trump administration to temporarily restore Acosta’s credentials, finding the reporter was not given due process. After the credential was restored, the White House backed off the ban, prompting CNN to drop its lawsuit.

The lawsuit from MS NOW, CNN and Politico marks the first formal action taken in response to Trump’s announcement Friday that the three news organizations would be barred from the White House, citing coverage that he claims is unfair to him. The ban marks a sharp escalation in the administration’s ongoing offensive against the news media, including the firing of journalists leading the military’s independent newspaper, unusual reviews of broadcast licenses by federal officials and previous moves to bar reporters from other news outlets from the White House and Pentagon in which litigation is ongoing.

MS NOW, CNN and Politico announced the lawsuit Monday in a joint statement. “This morning, we notified the government that we are filing a lawsuit today to protect our First Amendment rights and defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes,” the statement read.

“Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists’ credentials because it objected to our reporting. Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference,” the organizations added.

When asked for comment on the lawsuit, the White House referred MS NOW to Trump’s Truth Social post on Monday.

“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,” the president wrote in his post, adding, “It is a threat to our National Security, and must be stopped.” He gave no examples to back up his claim.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump was asked by reporters Friday whether the ban could survive a potential legal challenge. “I don’t think a court should allow fake news to be written day after day after day,” the president responded. “I think that somebody has a right to keep them away if they’re going to write false stories all the time.”

Theodore J. Boutrous, attorney for MS NOW, CNN and Politico, said in a statement Monday that the ban “harms the American people, who are entitled to rigorous, fact-based coverage of the President of the United States. The law is on our side across the board, and we look forward to presenting our arguments to the court as soon as possible.”

The outlets’ lawsuit alleges that the ban violates the First Amendment by retaliating against protected newsgathering as punishment for unfavorable coverage, as well as blocking reporters from a “nonpublic forum” for unlawful reasons. Restrictions on nonpublic forums, like the White House press area, must not discriminate based on viewpoint and must be reasonable, says the lawsuit.

The suit also alleges the ban violates the due process clause of the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment because Trump provided neither advance notice of the ban based on clear standards nor an opportunity for the media organizations to be heard before he barred their journalists from entering the White House.

Combined, these alleged violations are irreparably harming the reporters who the organizations say cannot do their jobs without accessing the White House, as well as the networks that air that reporting, according to the suit. 

“As a result of the ban, [the news organizations] have lost the ability to perform the essential newsgathering at the seat of the Executive Branch, where critically important newsworthy events occur every day,” the lawsuit says. “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 suit adds: “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.”

CNN is in a unique position because it participates in the five-network television press pool that shares resources to always accompany the president. CNN is scheduled for pool duty Monday, where the network is responsible for covering the president’s activities at the White House, including a Marine One departure scheduled for the afternoon. The outlet was not listed as part of the White House pool for Monday; in fact, there was no outlet listed for primary TV pool for Washington or out-of-town coverage.

The lawsuit comes just days after journalists from those outlets were denied entry to the White House and had their press credentials confiscated as part of the ban, which was announced by Trump on Truth Social on Friday afternoon, in a significant escalation in the president’s assault on the First Amendment

Shortly after the ban was revealed, while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump explained why he was taking the action, saying the move was the result of cumulative reporting by the media organizations being targeted. “There’s something wrong with a country that can allow people to purposely tell negative stories,” he said, adding, “if they want to write them, that’s fine, but I don’t have to let them into my, into the people’s house.”

This story has been updated to include Trump’s comments on Truth Social on Monday and information about the judge assigned to the case.

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