Journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico were turned away from White House grounds hours after a judge ordered their press credentials restored.
Reporters from the three news outlets were denied entry to the White House on Thursday morning, Sept. 24, despite federal judge Timothy Kelly ordering them to restore their credentials. Micah Stopperich, the White House director of press operations, later told the court that staff had begun reinstating the reporters’ badges and delivered them to an entry gate.
The dispute began Sept. 18, when President Donald Trump announced that he was banning the outlets from the White House over coverage he called “fake news.” The outlets sued, arguing that the administration revoked their credentials because they objected to their reporting.
How the ban unfolded
Trump said no single report prompted the ban. Asked about his decision on Sept. 18, he described his objection as the outlets’ coverage over several years.
On Sept. 19, White House reporters for CNN, MS NOW and Politico arrived for work and were turned away. The three outlets sued the administration two days later, arguing that it had punished them for their reporting and revoked their credentials without due process.
The White House defended its decision, saying press access was a privilege, not a right.
Coverage beyond the three outlets
The ban affected how other news organizations covered the president. CNN was scheduled to film a presidential event on Sept. 21 for the White House television press pool, which shares footage with outlets that cannot all fit into an event.
When CNN could not carry out that assignment, the pool suspended its coverage of presidential events. The decision left other outlets without its usual shared video feed.
Also on Sept. 21, the White House posted videos titled “Trump TV is Here” and “TRUMP TV: The Essentials Station” on its website. Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, told Reuters the stream risked giving the public “a steady diet of government propaganda” while independent pool coverage was disrupted.
Pool coverage briefly resumed on Friday, Sept. 25, when CNN filmed an event with Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the National Archives. But the White House left CNN off the following day’s Air Force One trip to Tennessee and assigned Real America’s Voice instead.
Court order and delayed access
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly issued a temporary order on Sept. 24 directing the administration to return the journalists’ credentials and stop enforcing the ban for 14 days while the case proceeds.
Kelly found that the White House likely violated the journalists’ due process rights. He also said the evidence before him did not support the administration’s claim that restoring their access would threaten national security.
The order did not immediately get every reporter through the gate. CNN, MS NOW and Politico told the judge that some of their journalists were still denied entry that morning and requested an emergency hearing.
A White House press operations official said in a court filing that staff had begun restoring credentials and delivered passes to an entry gate. The White House said it reinstated the outlets’ access by midday, and Kelly denied the request for an immediate hearing.
The restored credentials did not guarantee entry to every event. CNN and MS NOW said their journalists were excluded from Thursday evening’s arrival for the state dinner honoring President Xi.
“Banning news organizations from the White House prevents them from confronting government officials face-to-face,” Victor Pickard, a media policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania, told Reuters.
The 14-day order is temporary, and the lawsuit remains unresolved. By Saturday, the outlets regained their White House credentials, but CNN’s removal from the Air Force One assignment showed that access to presidential events and travel was still contested.
