CNN, MS NOW and Politico on Monday announced they are suing over President Donald Trump’s move to ban the three news organizations from the White House.
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The lawsuit states that the president acted “in disregard of the most basic guarantees of the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause,” according to MS NOW.
“He did so expressly for the improper purpose of retaliating against Plaintiffs for past news coverage because he deemed it ‘negative’ and chilling future reporting about him and his administration’s policies and actions,” the lawsuit says. “This ban could not be a more direct assault on the First Amendment nor a more blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles.”
Beside Trump, the suit also names White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, White House communications director Steven Cheung and the Secret Service director Sean Curran as defendants, Politico noted.
Reporters from the three outlets were turned away and had their press passes removed by the Secret Service when they tried to enter the White House on Saturday, a day after Donald Trump announced the ban.
“Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform on Friday, warning that more press bans would follow.
The president dismissed First Amendment concerns when questioned about his decision in the Oval Office.
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“There’s something wrong with a country that can allow people to write purposely negative stories,” Trump said Friday. “Now, if they want to write them, that’s fine, but I don’t have to let them into my, into the people’s house.”
In a statement on Monday, the three outlets said they are suing to “defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes.”
It added, “Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists’ credentials because it objected to our reporting. Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference.”
This is not the first time the Trump administration has targeted reporters covering the White House. In 2018, then-CNN correspondent Jim Acosta had his press pass revoked, prompting a lawsuit by the network. A judge ordered the administration to restore Acosta’s credentials, and CNN dropped the suit.
In 2019, journalist Brian Karem had his press pass suspended after getting into an altercation with Trump adviser Sebastian Gorka. A judge told the administration to restore the journalist’s credentials.
More recently, the Trump administration sought to bar The Associated Press from the Oval Office, Air Force One and other official events after the news agency refused to cede to Trump’s pressure to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America in its coverage. The AP sued over the move, and the case is ongoing.
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