CNN, MS NOW and Politico have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration after the president barred reporters from the White House, accusing the outlets of publishing what he called “Fake News.”
“This ban could not be a more direct assault on the First Amendment, nor a more blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles,” attorneys for the news organizations wrote in a 27-page complaint filed Monday.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, names President Donald Trump, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Communications Director Steven Cheung and Secret Service Director Sean Curran as defendants.
The outlets are asking a judge to immediately halt the ban and order the White House to return the reporters’ hard passes, which were taken from them at the gates on Saturday.
US District Judge Timothy Kelly, whom Trump appointed during his first term, is overseeing the case. He has previously ruled on a similar dispute: in 2018, Kelly ordered the White House to restore CNN reporter Jim Acosta’s credentials after his press pass was revoked following a heated exchange with Trump.
Trump announced on Truth Social Friday that all three outlets were barred “effective immediately” and warned that “other Fake News Media Outlets” could face the same treatment.
The complaint says Trump excluded the organizations “for one simple reason: He dislikes the content of their coverage of him and his administration.”
“President Trump has said in no uncertain terms that he would prefer only to be covered by news organizations and reporters who praise his administration,” the filing states.
CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins in the White House Press Briefing Room on September 3
The attorneys argued that Trump’s favored insult, “Fake News,” is “a term he routinely applies not to reporting that is false, but to any reporting he dislikes.”
The order effectively locked out entire news organizations. According to the lawsuit, 40 CNN journalists and 22 MS NOW journalists held hard passes at the time.
CNN reporter Betsy Klein, who has covered the White House since 2018, was told at the gate Saturday morning that her pass had been deactivated. A Secret Service officer then confiscated it.
When MS NOW reporter Akayla Gardner asked why her credential had been disabled, the officer told her the decision was “above” him before taking her pass as well. Politico reporter Cheyenne Haslett was also denied entry and had her credential removed.
CNN was scheduled to lead the television pool on Monday, but the network was removed from the lineup in White House guidance sent at 10.55pm Sunday, the complaint says.
The lawsuit also rejects Trump’s accusation that Politico received an “illegal” $8 million government subsidy during Joe Biden’s presidency, calling it “a categorically false and debunked claim.”
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“The President’s ban is just such a raw exercise of unbridled discretion to exclude disfavored media organizations from the White House,” the lawyers wrote.
“Each day it is allowed to stand injures Plaintiffs and the public in ways that can never be redressed. It must be restrained.”
Trump appeared unconcerned Friday when asked whether the ban would withstand a legal challenge. “Well, we’ll see,” he said.
“I mean, I don’t think a court should allow, depends on the judge you get, to be honest with you.”
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said the decision was not prompted by any single article. Instead, he blamed what he described as “cumulative stories over the last two years.”
“You get sick of it,” he said.
“I don’t want them in my office. I don’t want them here. I would say the ban would go as far as you can, and if they could straighten themselves out, I’d love it.”
President Donald Trump speaks at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner at the Waldorf Astoria Washington DC, Friday, July 24
CNN Senior White House Reporter Betsy Klein reports near the White House complex Saturday after having her credential was revoked by Donald Trump
The president said he supports a free press but added that “you need a fair and honest press.”
“It’s sick. I mean, there’s something wrong with a country that can allow people to write purposely negative stuff. Now, if they want to write them, that’s fine. But I don’t have to let them into my, into the people’s house,” he said.
The Associated Press was barred from the Oval Office and Air Force One last year after refusing to use the name “Gulf of America” for the Gulf of Mexico.
A federal judge ruled in favor of the AP, although an appeals court later paused that decision.
After the lawsuit was announced Monday, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “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.
“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.”
