CNN, MS NOW, and Politico have sued President Donald Trump’s administration after he banned them from the White House.
ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox News have all suspended coverage of presidential events.
Lawsuit
“This morning, we notified the government that we are filing a lawsuit today to protect our First Amendment rights and defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes,” the three news organizations said in a joint statement on Monday.
“Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists’ credentials because it objected to our reporting,” the news outlets said. “Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference.”
Trump implemented the ban on Friday.
“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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The outlets list Trump, Assistant to the President for Communications Steven Cheung, Secret Service Director Sean Curran, and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles as the defendants.
CNN, MS NOW, and Politico accuse the administration of violating the Due Process Clause:
The ban deprives them of those interests without meeting the bare minimum requirements of due process: advance notice based on clear standards and an opportunity to be heard. The President provided no notice that he would immediately deny news organizations whose reporting he disliked access to the White House grounds. Nor did he provide clear standards for his decision. And the President did not provide CNN, MS NOW, or POLITICO, or any of their journalists, any opportunity to be heard before he announced the ban in a social media post and before the White House terminated reporters’ access and confiscated press credentials.
The outlets claim the decision “retaliates against protected newsgathering and speech in violation of the First Amendment.” From the lawsuit:
The President announced that the ban is a punishment for the content of past news coverage from CNN, MS NOW, and POLITICO. And the President’s statements make clear he implemented the ban to coerce more favorable coverage of the administration from CNN, MS NOW, and POLITICO, and to deter other journalists and news organizations from reporting that the President might view as unfavorable. The President has made no attempt to hide that his ban punishes protected speech, stating expressly that he decided to ban CNN, MS NOW, and POLITICO for their “cumulative” coverage over the past two years of him and his administration—coverage that in his view is “fake,” “sick,” “purposely negative,” “one-sided,” and “never good.”
They also say the ban violates the First Amendment because it bars them “from a nonpublic forum for unlawful reasons.”
CNN, MS NOW, Politico allege it also violates the First Amendment since the D.C. Circuit held that the White House Press Area is a nonpublic forum, which is government property “that the government has opened to speech for selected speakers.”
The news outlets argue they face irreparable harm since the ban severely impedes the reporters from covering the administration:
Every day, critically important news is breaking at the White House and in the press pool: President Trump is the commander in chief of a country at war; he is traveling to New York today to address the United Nations General Assembly tomorrow; he is meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping at the White House on Thursday; and he is steering national policy on the ever-advancing technology of artificial intelligence. And the ban inflicts an injury on all news media organizations—who now risk a similar fate if they engage in reporting the President deems insufficiently favorable. And the public at large suffers for however long the unconstitutional ban restricts access to current and complete information about their government. These irreparable harms should not be tolerated for a day longer. The Court should immediately enjoin enforcement of the ban.
The White House denied reporters from all three outlets access on Saturday.
CNN lost its duties “as the White House pool representative for television networks on Monday.”
Trump already responded earlier this morning:
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, something that has grown like Cancer in our beloved United States of America. It is corrupt, purposeful, pervasive, fully coordinated, and totally out of control. It is a threat to our National Security, and must be stopped, NOW! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP
Last year, Trump attempted to keep the Associated Press out of the Oval Office, Air Force One, and other spots when it refused to change the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America in its stylebook.
The AP sued the administration. The case is ongoing.
Suspending Coverage
ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox News joined CNN in solidarity by not covering live presidential events.
That means the White House won’t have a TV pool provider on Monday. I’m guessing the move will last until the administration reinstates the outlets.
“The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government,” the networks said in a joint statement. “No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting.”
— CBS News PR (@CBSNewsPress) September 21, 2026
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