Judge orders White House to reinstates CNN, MS NOW and Politico

The White House on Thursday reinstated journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico after a federal judge deemed US President Donald Trump’s ban of the three news outlets likely unconstitutional and ordered their access immediately restored.

The reinstatement came after a chaotic few hours earlier on Thursday when the journalists continued to be blocked from entering the White House grounds. That prompted the three news organizations to request an immediate hearing before US District Judge Tim Kelly, who issued his decision overnight.

Kelly, acting in a lawsuit brought by CNN, MS NOW and Politico on Monday, ordered a halt to Trump’s ban for 14 days in a press freedom case that has played out over the past week in the courtroom and White House grounds.

Kelly found that the revocation of the White House credentials of the journalists “likely violated their constitutional due process rights.”

Hours after Kelly issued his order, CNN, MS NOW and Politico told the judge they remained barred, and asked for the emergency hearing. Politico said its reporter’s credentials were confiscated. An MS NOW reporter said she was blocked from the White House. CNN said some of its staff members were denied entry onto the grounds.

The judge, who Trump appointed in 2017 during his first presidential term, also raised doubts about the US Justice Department’s national security arguments for justifying the ban, noting that Trump himself had said the action was due to what the president alleged was false or negative coverage. 

Micah Stopperich, the director of press operations at the White House, in response said in a court filing that the White House began the process of reinstating press badges for affected reporters at 7:25 a.m., and that the “White House press team dropped badges at the entry gate for members of the press to pick up around 9:55 a.m.”

After receiving Stopperich’s declaration, the judge denied the request by the news organizations for an emergency hearing but gave them an opportunity to inform him of any factual developments later in the day.

The sharpest conflict yet between Trump and the press played out during a key diplomatic moment for the US president: his appearance at the United Nations General Assembly in New York and his hosting of Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday.