The Trump administration is facing another lawsuit. This time, the White House itself is the defendant. Journalists from CNN, MS NOW, and Politico were recently denied access to the White House and stripped of press credentials. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he companies are now claiming that their First Amendment rights have been violated.
“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. 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,” a joint statement read per The Hollywood Reporter.
CNN was originally supposed to cover a Monday meeting between Zohran Madami, Emmanuel Macron, and President Trump. A memo stated that the press pool has been suspended. Other members of the press pool include: ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox News.
“The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting,” the press pool stated according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Famed First Amendment lawyer Ted Boutrous will headline the lawsuit. In the filing,, they believe the Trump ‘sadministration’s decision violated the law.
“This ban could not be a more direct assault on the First Amendment nor a more blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles. Presidents from the earliest days of the Republic have disagreed with and complained about the tenor and content of press coverage of their administrations. But as the Supreme Court has recognized, the First Amendment, including its guarantee of a free press, reflects “a profound national commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open, and that it may well include vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials.” The suit states quoting a passage from the landmark case, New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 270 (1964),” the suit reads per The Hollywood Reporter.
It continues, “And the Constitution protects the liberty and property interests that news organizations and White House reporters have in their press credentials and the access those credentials afford them to cover the White House for the benefit of the public. “No official can deprive Plaintiffs of those interests on a whim—with no notice, no process, and no warning—as the President did here,”via The Hollywood Reporter.
Trump announced the ban Friday. Saturday, several journalists were denied entry. Team members were confused as some were allowed access and others were not.
Trump has justified his decision by claiming these outlets’ coverage had been purposefully defamatory. He did not cite any specific stories as reasoning.
“The President repeated his straightforward rationale for targeting these three news organizations, calling it ‘wrong’ to ‘allow people to write purposely negative stories. “The President complained about coverage he considers ‘one-sided’ and ‘never good,’ and at one point even referred to his own unprecedented act as the ‘ban on the free press,’” the lawsuit rebuttals to his statement per The Hollywood Reporter.
Trump claims that he was prepared for litigation, as his administration has been sued twice prior for denying access. In 2018, CNN journalists were denied entry similarly, and the AP was denied access to certain press events over a disagreement about renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. Both times, judges ruled in favor of the media, but both cases are currently on appeal.
