US: Judge orders Trump to lift White House media ban

​A federal judge on Thursday said US President Donald Trump must lift his ban on journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico accessing the White House.

The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by the news organizations contesting the ban, issued on September 18.

In his order, District Judge Tim Kelly said the ban was likely unconstitutional.

Kelly said the order must remain in place for 14 days.

What did the judge say about the ban?

Kelly rejected the government's claim that the ban had been prompted by national security concerns.

"The record lacks factual support for defendants’ contention that the revocation of plaintiffs’ hard passes will ​in fact protect national security or that national security will be endangered if the court orders their passes reinstated while this litigation ​proceeds," he said.

He pointed out that Trump himself had initially cited only an "alleged lack of truthfulness and negativity" in reporting by the outlets as the reason for the ban.

At a Wednesday hearing, Kelly said two previous rulings from the US Court of Appeals for the ⁠District of ​Columbia Circuit had established the White House press passes can be revoked only after due process.
made clear that journalists are entitled to due process.

He said that the banned news outlets did not appear to have been given a proper chance to contest the ban.

  Kelly, who was nominated by Trump in 2017, ordered a CNN journalist’s access restored in a similar case in 2018.