Judge questions White House ban on three news outlets

A federal judge questioned the White House’s ban on journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico on Wednesday, saying the outlets appeared to have lost access without the due process required by earlier court rulings. He did not immediately decide whether to restore their credentials.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly heard arguments in Washington after the three outlets sued on Monday and sought an emergency order allowing their employees back onto White House grounds. President Trump had announced the ban the previous week, criticizing the outlets’ reporting.

Kelly pointed to federal appeals court decisions from 1977 and 2022 that established due-process protections when the White House revokes a journalist’s access. “I think it is fair to say” the process required by those cases “wasn’t followed here,” he said, according to CBS News.

Justice Department filings included letters telling the outlets their access had been revoked. The letters accused them of violating standards of “professionalism and decorum,” including by “trafficking in verifiable falsehoods about national security and other issues, and publishing sensitive or classified information.” The White House press office gave the organizations until Friday at 5 p.m. to respond, CBS News reported.

Kelly questioned how letters received after the revocations could have told the outlets what conduct was required beforehand. “It’s a piece of paper they got saying, ‘You’ve already violated this,’” he said, according to CBS News.

Theodore Boutrous, a lawyer for the outlets, said the letters “announced after-the-fact standards.” He argued that the ban violated the First Amendment and retaliated against the organizations for their coverage. NPR reported that Boutrous called it “probably the clearest case in history” of viewpoint discrimination.

In threatening the ban, Trump told reporters Friday that the outlets “purposely write negative news” to “diminish the Republicans and a Republican administration,” NPR reported. Boutrous said the government raised national security only after the ban and called that rationale a post hoc justification.

Justice Department lawyer Michael Velchik rejected the allegation of discrimination. “Access to the White House is a privilege, not a right,” he said. He argued that the president must be able to act swiftly to protect national security. Velchik also noted that Trump criticizes other outlets that retain White House access, including ABC News and The New York Times, CBS News reported.

The ban also disrupted television coverage of the president. According to CBS News, CNN was removed from a Monday press-pool trip with Trump to New York for the United Nations General Assembly. The four other networks in the television pool — CBS News, ABC News, NBC News and Fox News — then suspended the pool in support of CNN. CBS News reported that the networks were not providing pooled coverage of Trump’s activities because of the ban. Chinese President Xi Jinping was set to arrive in Washington later Wednesday, the outlet reported.

Kelly ended the hearing without ruling and said he would decide “as soon as I can.”