CNN, Politico, MS NOW sue Trump over White House press ban

The three media outlets on Monday filed a federal lawsuit against President Donald Trump after he banned the outlets from the White House. He followed up his Friday announcement by yanking journalists’ press passes the next day. Trump accused CNN, Politico, and MS NOW of constantly reporting lies about him. The news outlets argued in their lawsuit that Trump violated their First Amendment free speech rights, as well as the Constitution’s due process clause, according to court documents. They asked the court to immediately reverse the ban, restore the press passes, and block Trump from putting another ban in place.

The lawsuit states that Trump gave no prior notice and no clear reason for instituting the ban, other than disagreements with the outlets’ coverage of him. Exclusion from the White House irreparably harmed the outlets’ operations and the jobs of their White House reporters, the outlets said in court documents.

Who’s running the cameras? The White House on Monday also barred CNN from providing TV coverage in the rotation as a pool representative for the entire White House press corps, according to court documents. The other major networks that typically rotate pool assignments, ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox News, declined to fill the gap, according to Politico. Instead, the Hearst local TV station operator and pro-Trump Real America’s Voice appeared to be listed as secondary TV crews for Monday pool duties, according to Politico.