White House Finally Obeys Court Order to Reinstate Media Access

Trump is playing footsie with a constitutional crisis by refusing to reinstate press access for CNN, MS NOW, and Politico

CNN, MS NOW, and Politico are seeking an emergency court hearing after once again being denied access to the White House — this time in violation of a federal judge’s order commanding the administration to restore the three outlets’ press credentials. 

Last week, Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he was “immediately” banning the three outlets from the White House press pool because he did not like the manner in which they covered him — an apparent violation of the First Amendment, which the president has repeatedly claimed he will defend. 

Trump didn’t help his case by openly referring to their expulsion as “the ban on the free press,” and U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly ruled early Thursday morning that the 78 journalists affected by the ban should have their credentials returned, immediately. 

“The Court is skeptical — at least on this record — that Defendants’ interest in safeguarding national security is the actual motivation for, or is even advanced by, the revocation of Plaintiffs’ hard passes,” Kelly wrote of the administration’s retroactive claims that the outlets reporting posed a national security risk. “Defendants offer little to back up their asserted national security interest to justify revocation of Plaintiffs’ hard passes.” 

The temporary restraining order granted that the media organizations were likely to succeed in their lawsuit against the administration, but so far, Trump and White House staff have ignored Kelly’s order. Reporters from CNN, MS NOW, and Politico were blocked from entering the White House grounds on Thursday, and the Secret Service continued revoking and seizing press passes from journalists who still had them.

So it’s back to court. 

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“Time is of the essence,” the joint filing submitted Thursday read. “CNN is scheduled to be the television pool this evening for President Xi Jinping’s visit to the White House.” 

Judge Kelly responded with a demand that the Trump administration respond to the outlet’s notice of non-compliance by 12:30 p.m. this afternoon. In the meantime, the White House is playing footsie with a constitutional crisis and the future of the free press.