News outlets sue Trump over lost White House access, citing 'blatant
violation' of First Amendment
[September 22, 2026]
By JOCELYN NOVECK
NEW YORK (AP) — CNN, MS NOW and Politico on Monday sued President Donald
Trump’s administration days after they were barred from White House
grounds, calling the selective ban — based on the content of their
coverage — a “blatant violation” of the First Amendment. Trump said on
social media that he ”cherished" a free press but not “FAKE NEWS.”
“White House access is a privilege — not a right,” the administration
posted on X.
The extraordinary ban of the three news outlets' reporters, which began
over the weekend, represented a clear escalation of Trump’s long-running
efforts — in the courts and through administrative action — to restrict
news coverage he finds objectionable. They were also the latest test of
First Amendment protections in the United States, where the government
is constitutionally forbidden from restricting the press.
The Constitution, the banned news outlets said in their lawsuit, “does
not allow a president or any other government official to deprive the
press of their First Amendment rights and liberty and property interests
with no notice or process based solely on his dislike of the content of
their reporting.”
The three outlets filed the joint lawsuit two days after their reporters
were blocked from the White House and prevented from doing their jobs.
The reporters' entry badges were disabled Saturday, a day after Trump
had suddenly announced he was barring the outlets because of reporting
he considered “fake news.”
CNN is removed from pool duties, and other outlets take a stand in
solidarity
On Monday morning, the banned TV networks were reporting from an
intersection just outside the White House complex. CNN, meanwhile, was
removed from its pool duties, which are shared by the five major
networks. It had been scheduled to cover the president's trip to New
York for the United Nations General Assembly. In an email to members,
the TV pool said there would be no replacement coverage — and other
networks would suspend their own pool coverage indefinitely.
“Effective today, the TV pool will not be covering events designated as
pool coverage of the President,” said the email, seen by The Associated
Press, from the current chair of the pool, Fox's Washington bureau
chief, Bryan Boughton. “This follows the White House’s position
preventing CNN from fulfilling its assigned pool duties."
Other news outlets also took steps in solidarity. The AP joined a number
of news organizations, including The Washington Post and The New York
Times, in a decision not to publish photographs of presidential events
on Monday.
The White House did not respond directly to a request for comment on
Monday's lawsuit. But in a news release posted on X, it said of the
three banned outlets, “The First Amendment protects their right to
publish; it does not entitle them to a hard pass, briefing room seat, or
place in the press pool.”
On his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote that he was not attacking the
First Amendment.
“The White House is not instituting an assault on the Free Press,
something which I cherish,” the president said in his post. “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!”
Vice President JD Vance, meanwhile, told reporters that the journalism
of the three outlets is “effectively far-left propaganda," and said they
were still allowed to report — just not to have offices in the White
House.
The lawsuit claims a ‘direct assault’ on the First Amendment
In his second term, Trump and his Republican administration have upped
the ante and punished certain media outlets. Trump has also lashed out
at individual reporters in person or over social media, sometimes in
strikingly personal terms — insulting them in briefings or in his recent
speech at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
[to top of second column]
|
This combination of photos shows MS NOW White House reporter Akayla
Gardne, from left, CNN Senior White House Reporter Betsy Klein and
Politico White House reporter Cheyenne Haslett near the White House
complex after all were denied entry to the White House and had
credentials confiscated following President Donald Trump's ban on
CNN, MS NOW and Politico, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026, in Washington.
(AP Photos/Jose Luis Magana)
“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 banned outlets said in a joint statement posted early
Monday on X. "Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the
public's right to independent journalism free from government
interference.”
In the joint complaint, accompanied by a separate request for a
temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of the bans, the
outlets said, “This ban could not be a more direct assault on the First
Amendment nor a more blatant violation of our most fundamental
constitutional principles.”
In legal terms, it's known as “viewpoint discrimination” — the
government singling out specific media outlets for the content of what
they say or publish. That legal principle is at issue in many of the
court cases around Trump’s treatment of the media and would likely be at
play this time.
Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment
Institute at Columbia University, called the White House move "an attack
both on press freedom and the public’s right to independent information
about the government.”
"The president’s decision to bar news organizations from the White House
for the content of their reporting is a flagrant violation of the First
Amendment,” said Jaffer, whose institute is filing a brief to support
the lawsuit. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Timothy
Kelly, whom Trump nominated during his first term in the White House.
Reporters were barred Saturday from their White House offices
On Saturday, White House reporters from the two cable networks — Betsy
Klein of CNN and Akayla Gardner of MS NOW — went live to report they’d
been turned away, their press badges deactivated, when arriving for
their jobs at the White House.
Soon after, Politico said its White House reporter Cheyenne Haslett was
also denied entry and had her badge confiscated.
The WHCA’s president, Jacqui Heinrich, called on the Trump
administration to immediately restore the three outlets’ access.
“The implications extend beyond these organizations: a standard used to
exclude one news outlet because of its coverage could be applied to any
outlet in the future,” Heinrich said.
The current showdown follows the president’s decision last year to bar
AP reporters from the Oval Office, Air Force One and some events in
retaliation for the news outlet’s decision not to follow his lead in
changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico, which lies partially in Mexican
and other waters. The AP said it would note when appropriate that Trump
had ordered it renamed the “Gulf of America.”
The AP filed suit and the case is ongoing. Since returning to office,
Trump has pursued other legal action against a variety of different
outlets, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the
BBC. His administration is also involved in a long-simmering
confrontation involving ABC over renewal of its broadcast licenses.
It was not known how long the standoff between the White House and some
members of the media would continue. But the effects of missing pool
coverage were clear later Monday as Trump showed off a new White House
helicopter landing pad — with no TV cameras to record the moment or
catch what he was saying.
___
Associated Press reporter Michael Kunzelman contributed.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
