A federal judge ordered the Trump administration Thursday to immediately restore White House access to CNN, MS NOW and Politico, but journalists from all three outlets were still being denied entry hours later, prompting the news organizations to return to court and accuse the administration of repeatedly violating the order.
CNN, MS NOW and Politico asked U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly for an immediate hearing Thursday morning, saying journalists from all three outlets had been turned away despite his order. “Defendants have already repeatedly violated the Court’s Order,” attorneys for the outlets wrote, asking for a hearing by video or telephone “as soon as possible this morning.”
The outlets said time was “of the essence” because CNN is scheduled to serve as the television pool for President Xi Jinping’s visit to the White House Thursday evening. They also said Secret Service agents confiscated hard passes from journalists whose credentials had not previously been seized.
Among those turned away was CNN reporter Betsy Klein, whose pass was confiscated Saturday. Klein asked to have it returned Thursday morning, but her request was denied and she was refused access to the White House complex, according to the filing. MS NOW White House correspondent Laura Barrón-López also tried to enter Thursday morning, but said her credential still registered as disabled and was confiscated by the Secret Service. A Politico reporter was similarly denied entry and had his pass confiscated.
Kelly granted the outlets a 14-day temporary restraining order earlier Thursday, finding they were likely to succeed on their claim that the White House revoked their press credentials without constitutionally adequate due process. He ordered officials to “immediately return, reinstate, and restore” the hard passes revoked last week.
“This is a high bar, but Plaintiffs have met it,” Kelly wrote in the eight-page ruling.
It was not immediately clear why some journalists remained blocked Thursday morning or when their credentials would be fully restored. The White House did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
“This is a strong ruling vindicating freedom of the press, due process and the rule of law,” Theodore J. Boutrous Jr., an attorney for CNN, MS NOW and Politico, said in a statement Thursday. “We greatly appreciate the court’s swift action.”
Kelly also questioned the administration’s national-security justification for the ban, writing that officials offered “little to back up” their claim that revoking the outlets’ access would protect national security.
“Nothing in the record that predates this suit suggests that the revocation of Plaintiffs’ hard passes was motivated by national security concerns,” Kelly wrote, noting that Trump instead focused on what he characterized as the outlets’ untruthful and negative reporting when he announced the ban.
Trump announced Friday that he was banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House “effective immediately.” Reporters for the three outlets were subsequently denied access to the complex and had their hard-pass credentials deactivated.
CNN, MS NOW and Politico sued the Trump administration Monday, arguing that the ban retaliated against them for their coverage in violation of the First Amendment and deprived them of due process under the Fifth Amendment.
The Trump administration defended the ban in a Tuesday court filing, arguing that White House access “is a privilege — not a right” and that the decision was not retaliation for coverage critical of the president.
The administration also sent letters to the three outlets Tuesday identifying reporting it considered objectionable and accusing them of violating “standards of professionalism and decorum.” But Kelly said that standard was “so vague it hardly does the trick.” The letters also came after the outlets’ credentials had already been revoked.
The judge found that existing federal appeals court precedent required the White House to give reporters notice of the standards governing their conduct and an opportunity to respond before revoking their credentials. The administration did not dispute that the outlets received neither before their passes were deactivated.
Kelly also found little factual support for the government’s national-security argument. The administration offered no declarations or other evidence explaining how the reporting identified in its letters damaged national security, Kelly wrote. In most instances, the reporters who produced the stories cited by the White House did not even hold hard passes.
Kelly had zeroed in on the administration’s handling of the ban during a Wednesday hearing, saying the due process required under previous court decisions “wasn’t played out here.”
The dispute had already disrupted television coverage of Trump after ABC News, CBS News, Fox News and NBC News declined to replace CNN in the five-network White House television pool while CNN remained barred.
Kelly declined the administration’s request to delay the order from taking effect. The TRO will remain in effect for 14 days while the court moves to expedited briefing on the outlets’ request for a preliminary injunction.
