Federal judge indefinitely blocks Trump’s ban on three media outlets
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A federal judge late Tuesday indefinitely barred the White House from enforcing a ban on three media outlets announced by President Donald Trump in mid-September.
The preliminary injunction by Judge Timothy Kelly extends his existing block on Trump’s ban of MS NOW, CNN, and Politico from the White House complex.
“President Trump’s own comments suggest that he intended the revocation of Plaintiffs’ hard passes to alter their reporting on him,” wrote Kelly, who was nominated by Trump for his seat in U.S. District Court in Washington.
Kelly, in his written opinion said the three outlets were likely to succeed on the claim in their pending lawsuit challenging the ban, which argues they were denied due process by Trump summarily barring them without giving them a chance to argue against that action.
“There is no evidence in the record that President Trump made the decision to revoke Plaintiffs’ hard passes on national security grounds from the get-go, nor at any time has he directly stated that national security was the reason for his decision,” Kelly wrote.
The ruling comes on the heels of a court hearing last Thursday where the DOJ defended the ban. Trump last month said he would appeal any decision by Kelly blocking his ban.
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