Media Outlets Sue White House for Revoking Credentials

Politico, MS NOW, and CNN are suing the White House after President Donald Trump announced he was banning the three outlets.

“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 news organizations said. “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.”

Trump seemingly responded to news of the lawsuit in a Monday post.

“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 Monday morning. “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!”

When asked Friday by reporters about the ban, Trump said “our country has to have honestness” and the banned press outlets “purposely write negative things, and they do that because they want to try and diminish the Republicans and a Republican administration.”

He said he was “sick” of “cumulative stories over the last few years” from the outlets.

The news outlets are represented by Theodore Boutrous Jr. of law firm Gibson Dunn. They are suing Trump, chief of staff Susie Wiles, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung, and Secret Service Director Sean Curran.

The outlets argue that the ban impedes their ability to cover the White House while also stirring up fear in other outlets. When Trump announced the ban, he said, “Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow.”

District Court Judge Trevor McFadden ruled last year that the White House cannot bar Associated Press reporters and photographers from the Oval Office, Air Force One, and other spaces for journalists.

CNN is one of five outlets that serve as TV pool. In response to the White House’s ban, the other TV networks in the rotation have said they will not fill in for CNN to cover events designated as pool coverage of the president. This means TV cameras will not capture the president’s activities, including his trip this week to the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.

“This is to advise that, effective today, the TV pool will not be covering events designated as pool coverage of the President,” the TV pool chair wrote in the email. “This follows the White House’s position preventing CNN from fulfilling its assigned pool duties. There will be no replacement pool put in place.”

Vice President JD Vance said Trump is not banning media outlets, but refusing to give some certain access.

“He’s not banning media outlets,” he told reporters. “What he’s doing is saying we’re not going to give you special access to the White House if you engage in what is effectively propaganda.”

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