WASHINGTON--CNN, MS NOW and Politico sued President Donald Trump and other members of his administration on Monday for banning them from White House grounds, saying the action violated their rights to free speech and a free press under the US Constitution's First Amendment.
The news outlets are seeking a temporary restraining order to block Trump's action in federal court in Washington, D.C., with a hearing scheduled for Wednesday. "This ban could not be a more direct assault on the First Amendment nor a more blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles," the lawsuit stated.
"Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public's right to independent journalism free from government interference," the outlets wrote in a joint statement. "The government does not decide what the press reports or publishes."
Trump announced the ban on Friday on social media, saying those news outlets "shouldn't be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they're covering the President of the United States," and defended it in another post on Monday. "The White House is not instituting an assault on the Free Press, something which I cherish. It is instituting an assault on the FAKE NEWS. It is a threat to our National Security, and must be stopped, NOW!" Trump wrote on Monday, without providing evidence of a national security threat.
Past presidents have battled with the press, but Trump's campaign against the media has been unprecedented. He has upended decades of tradition by denying basic access to many major news organizations, launching personal attacks on journalists for their reporting and elevating media outlets seen as more sympathetic to the administration. He also has filed lawsuits against multiple news outlets.
The White House launched a "Trump TV" stream on Monday evening, days after Trump banned the media outlets from the White House. The White House said the stream will run videos and highlights of what it calls the Trump administration's achievements but a press freedom advocate said it amounted to "a steady diet of government propaganda."
A 60-second trailer displayed the Republican leader's 2024 presidential win and the first video streamed after the platform went live was Trump's remarks on July 3 at Mount Rushmore. The stream had only about 8,000 live views 15 minutes after it was launched on YouTube.
"This just makes it even clearer that the real goal here is to ensure that the American public is fed a steady diet of government propaganda," Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said.
CNN is one of the five news organizations – along with ABC, CBS, Fox News and NBC – that make up the primary White House television pool. They share the costs of covering the president, take turns organizing coverage and share the footage with outlets around the country. CNN had been scheduled to cover Trump's trip to New York for the United Nations General Assembly on Monday, but was not able to provide a pool feed.
In response, the other major TV networks suspended presidential pool coverage. This effectively eliminated the most widespread video source for White House events just as Trump is set to meet with numerous world leaders on the sidelines of the General Assembly and host Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington later in the week.
