CNN, MS NOW, Politico to sue Trump administration over White House access

CNN, MS NOW and Politico will sue the Trump administration after being denied access to the White House, the news outlets said in a joint statement on Monday.

President Donald Trump said on Friday he was banning the outlets from the presidential residence as punishment for distributing what he calls "fake news."

"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," CNN, MS NOW and Politico said in a joint statement.

The outlets said the White House revoked their journalists' credentials "without notice or process" because it "objected to our reporting."

"Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public's right to independent journalism free from government interference," they said.

Trump did not detail what prompted the ban but said "media Outlets shouldn't be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they're covering the President of the United States."

The 80-year-old Republican, who has long had a fiery relationship with the mainstream media, warned on Friday that other outlets could face a similar fate but did not say which ones.

In his second term, Trump and his Republican administration have upped the ante and punished certain media outlets, both in the courtroom and through regulatory action.

Trump has also lashed out at individual reporters in person or over social media, sometimes in strikingly personal terms, insulting them in briefings or in his recent speech at the White House Corresondents’ Association dinner.

CNN had been scheduled to serve as the White House TV pool on Monday, a rotating assignment in which a broadcaster films on behalf of all television outlets for the day.

Updated guidance from the White House late Sunday simply listed a back-up crew.