Judge orders Trump to restore CNN, MS NOW, Politico press access

Sept. 24 (UPI) — A federal judge early Thursday ordered the Trump administration to reinstate CNN, MS NOW and Politico’s White House access, temporarily blocking President Donald Trump’s ban of the three media organizations.

The Trump administration has taken a hard-line stance against media outlets whose coverage it criticizes and has taken numerous actions during its second term to restrict their access, including taking control of the press pool that has access to Trump.

Trump banned the three news outlets on Friday, calling the outlets “FAKE NEWS” on his Truth Social media platform, prompting the trio to sue, alleging their constitutional rights had been violated.

Judge Timothy Kelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled in the news organizations’ favor early Thursday, issuing a temporary restraining order that directs the Trump administration to reinstate their hard-pass press credentials for 14 days, unless the court orders otherwise as litigation continues.

In his ruling, Kelly, a Trump appointee, said the news organization were likely to succeed in showing that they were banned “without constitutionally adequate due process.” Because substantial interests are at stake, the government must provide clear standards for conduct that would lead to ban and give reporters fair notice of both the prohibited conduct and possible penalties.

“None of defendants’ arguments convince the court that plaintiffs are not likely to succeed on their due process claim,” Kelly said, adding that the Trump administration had not shown why a ban was urgent as the reporting it identified were published months and years ago, and the activity it cited was “routine.”

Kelly also said that the court was skeptical of the Trump administration’s defense that the ban was in the interest of national security, saying it had offered little evidence to support its claim.

“For one thing, nothing in the record that predates this suit suggests that the revocation of plaintiffs’ hard passes was motivated by national security concerns,” Kelly said.

“Certainly, that is not what President Trump said when he announced that he was ‘banning’ plaintiffs from the White House — instead, he focused on the alleged lack of truthfulness and negativity of plaintiffs’ reporting.”

Ted Boutrous, a lawyer representing the outlets, told CNN that they “greatly appreciate” the court’s swift order.”

“This is a strong ruling vindicating freedom of the press, due process and the rule of law,” Boutrous said.