CNN, Politico and MS NOW have announced they are suing the Trump administration after their journalists were barred from the White House, citing violations of First and Fifth Amendment rights.
The three outlets said in a joint statement on Monday that they were filing the lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of Columbia. "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," the statement read.
President Donald Trump announced the ban on Friday, accusing the organisations of writing "fiction or lies" about his administration. He did not cite any specific stories but later said the decision reflected "cumulative stories over the last few years" of what he described as unfair and negative coverage.
Reporters from all three outlets said their teams were turned away from the White House grounds over the weekend and their press credentials confiscated, despite holding permanent press passes.
The lawsuit, filed when federal courts opened Monday morning, argues that the ban constitutes a direct violation of the First Amendment, which forbids the government from abridging freedom of the press. Courts have traditionally interpreted this as preventing the government from discriminating against media organisations based on the content of their coverage. The lawsuit also invokes Fifth Amendment due process protections, arguing the government cannot revoke rights or privileges without warning or any process to appeal.
"Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists' credentials because it objected to our reporting," the outlets said. "Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public's right to independent journalism free from government interference."
The lead attorney on the case, First Amendment lawyer Theodore J. Boutrous of Gibson Dunn, said legal precedents overwhelmingly support the news organisations' position. Among the precedents cited is a ruling in which a federal judge found that a White House executive order barring federal funds from going to public media outlets was unconstitutional.
Responding on Truth Social on Monday, Trump denied that the ban represented an attack on the free press. "It is not 'Freedom of the Press' that I am instituting an assault on," he wrote, describing his target instead as "FAKE NEWS". He called it "corrupt, purposeful, pervasive, fully coordinated, and totally out of control," adding: "It is a threat to our National Security, and must be stopped, NOW!"
When asked by reporters whether other outlets might face similar bans, Trump said: "Others to come in terms of fake news? Well, you know, the New York Times is fake news, the Washington Post is fake news."
CNN is one of only five US news outlets in the White House press pool for live television. The network had been scheduled to cover Trump's trip to the UN General Assembly in New York on Monday and Tuesday, but its pool slot was left vacant. The conservative outlet Real America's Voice was listed instead as secondary crew on the trip.
The White House Correspondents' Association called on the administration to immediately restore the three outlets' access. "The implications extend beyond these organizations: a standard used to exclude one news outlet because of its coverage could be applied to any outlet in the future," said WHCA president Jacqui Heinrich. "The American people, through a free and independent press, must be able to scrutinize those elected to power, regardless of whether government officials view it favorably."
The ban follows a pattern of the Trump administration restricting access for major news organisations while elevating outlets seen as more sympathetic to the White House. In February, the administration took control of the press pool, which had been managed by the White House Correspondents' Association for more than a century.
That same month, the administration barred Associated Press reporters and photographers from restricted-access spaces such as the Oval Office and Air Force One, after the outlet used the term "Gulf of Mexico" rather than "Gulf of America." The AP filed a lawsuit and that case remains ongoing.
Trump has also filed legal action against a number of other media organisations, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and CBS. Some of those cases have resulted in multimillion-dollar settlements.
