USA · updated 2h ago · 2 min read
Trump Bans CNN, MS NOW, and Politico From White House After Secret Service Revokes Passes
Trump bans CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from White House premises. Secret Service confiscated reporters' White House press passes and denied entry.
27 outlets, one story, no spin found.
9 of 10 outlets skipped it: USA Today cites Sherill v. Knight on arbitrarily denying press passes.
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White House Access Veto
President Donald Trump announced he was banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, and on Saturday the three outlets said their reporters were denied access to the White House grounds and had badges confiscated.
“"He said it was above him."”
MS NOW reporter Akayla Gardner said an officer told her her badge was disabled and asked her to hand it over, adding, "He said it was above him."
CNN reporter Betsy Klein said a Secret Service agent told her her badge had been deactivated, and she was turned away after spending about a minute inside the security kiosk.
Politico said its White House reporter Cheyenne Haslett was denied entry and Secret Service revoked her pass, while Politico Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Greenberger said, "We will vigorously defend our First Amendment rights."
Pushback and Legal Threats
The outlets framed the denials as constitutional violations, with CNN saying it has "a right under the U.S. Constitution to do our reporting without hindrance or interference from the government" and calling the ban "an illegal assault" on that right.
MS NOW said, "MS NOW intends to take any and all steps necessary to defend our First Amendment rights and the essential role of independent journalists in our democracy," after its journalists were barred from the grounds.
White House Correspondents Association president Jacqui Heinrich criticized the revocation, saying, "The implications extend beyond these organizations: a standard used to exclude one news outlet" could be applied to others.
A professor at Penn State University, Amy Kristin Sanders, said it has become "pretty clear that this administration is not interested in playing by traditional First Amendment rules and norms," while CNN media analyst Brian Stelter called the move "a direct threat to press freedom in the United States."
What Comes Next
The ban followed Trump’s Friday social media post saying, "I am banning" CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, and he later told reporters the decision was based on "cumulative stories over the last few years."
“it expected Trump's ban to be struck down quickly by the courts because it was "flatly unconstitutional"”
The BBC reported that press freedom advocates called the move unconstitutional, including the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, which said it expected the ban to be struck down quickly because it was "flatly unconstitutional."
NBC News said the White House declined to comment further Saturday and referred the network to Trump’s previous comments, while the outlets said they would continue covering the president and administration despite the access restrictions.
The episode also landed amid other access fights described in the coverage, including the administration’s earlier decision to bar Associated Press reporters from the Oval Office, Air Force One and other events, and the AP’s lawsuit that a federal judge ruled on in that dispute.