CNN, MS NOW and Politico reporters were allowed back onto White House grounds Thursday around noon, several hours after journalists from the three outlets were turned away despite a federal judge’s order requiring the Trump administration to immediately restore their access.
The reversal came after the three news organizations returned to court Thursday morning and accused the administration of repeatedly violating U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly’s overnight order. But another piece of the standoff remained unresolved: the five-network television pool remained suspended Thursday afternoon as the networks sought assurances that CNN would be allowed to resume its pool duties.
In a sworn declaration filed shortly before a 12:30 p.m. ET deadline set by Kelly, White House Press Operations Director Micah Stopperich said White House Operations was notified at 7:10 a.m. to restore access and began reinstating the reporters’ badges at 7:25 a.m. The Secret Service said the badges were electronically reactivated by 9:07 a.m., and the White House press team delivered the confiscated passes to the Press Gate around 9:55 a.m. Reporters from the barred outlets, however, continued to be denied entry well into the 11 a.m. hour.
CNN correspondent Betsy Klein said she tried three times Thursday morning to enter the White House and was repeatedly turned away. MS NOW White House correspondent Laura Barrón-López also made several attempts to enter before being allowed back onto the grounds.
Shortly after noon, Klein was broadcasting again from the White House.
“Very happy to be getting back to work here,” Klein said on air. MS NOW also aired footage of Barrón-López entering the grounds, while Politico journalists regained access around the same time, according to The New York Times.
The disruption meant no major U.S. television network aired live pool footage of the start of Trump’s meeting Thursday with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The White House allowed a limited number of photojournalists, but not reporters, into the Oval Office for the beginning of the meeting. The print reporter and photographer pools continued to operate.
CNN, MS NOW and Politico had asked Kelly for an immediate hearing Thursday morning after journalists from all three outlets were turned away despite his order.
“Defendants have already repeatedly violated the Court’s Order,” attorneys for the outlets wrote.
The outlets also said Secret Service agents confiscated hard passes from journalists whose credentials had not previously been seized.
Kelly granted the outlets a 14-day temporary restraining order early 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.
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.
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.” Kelly said that standard was “so vague it hardly does the trick” and noted that the letters came after the credentials had already been revoked.
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 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.
