A US federal judge ordered the White House to restore press access for journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico. The ruling found the ban on the outlets, which President Trump labelled "fake news", was likely unconstitutional.
Hours after a US federal judge ordered the White House to restore press access, journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico, outlets President Donald Trump had labelled "fake news", returned to the White House.
As the barred outlets returned, a large group of journalists gathered around them. CNN reporter Betsy Klein was seen surrounded by crowds as she prepared for her first on-camera broadcast after being readmitted to the White House grounds, with people taking photos and videos of the moment.
CNN reported that Klein re-entered the White House grounds on Thursday after being turned away earlier that morning, along with a photojournalist who was also stopped at the gates. CNN also confirmed that Politico journalists too subsequently regained entry to the White House complex, bringing all three targeted news organisations back inside the campus.
Judge Rules Ban 'Likely Unconstitutional'
This comes after a US federal judge on Thursday ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to restore White House access for journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico, ruling that the ban on the three news organisations was likely unconstitutional, Reuters reported. US District Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee, issued the order in a lawsuit filed by the three media organisations challenging Trump's decision to bar them from the White House.
Court Battle Over Press Access
The dispute escalated after reporters from the three organisations were denied entry to the White House over the weekend following Trump's announcement of the restrictions, with their press badges disabled or confiscated. CNN was also removed from its scheduled role in the White House television pool, which provides shared coverage of presidential events. Trump had defended the decision on social media, arguing that the three outlets should not be permitted to repeatedly publish what he described as false reports.
The White House restrictions were challenged in court by CNN, MS NOW and Politico, which contested the administration's decision to revoke their access. Kelly's order came after a hearing on Wednesday in which the judge had questioned whether the administration had followed proper due process before revoking the outlets' White House press credentials. Kelly expressed scepticism during a hearing on the outlets' request to restore their access, saying near the beginning of the proceedings that due process “wasn’t followed here".
The three organisations sued the administration on First Amendment grounds after their journalists were denied access to the White House grounds on Saturday and their hard press badges were revoked. Representing the media organisations, attorney Theodore Boutrous urged Kelly on Wednesday to immediately restore the outlets' credentials, arguing that the administration's action amounted to “viewpoint discrimination” and saying the decision came “completely out of the blue.”
“These are urgent matters,” Boutrous told the judge.“We’re at war. World leaders are coming to Washington," he added, as quoted by The Hill. The US Justice Department, meanwhile, defended the administration's position that access to the White House is not an unrestricted right.
“Access to the White House is a privilege, not a right,” DOJ attorney Michael Velchik said during the hearing, as quoted by The Hill, adding that “at the very least, the president may exclude anyone he wants from the Oval Office.” The administration has also cited national security concerns in defending the restrictions. However, the media organisations' attorney argued that the administration's current justification differs from Trump's initial explanation for the ban, which focused on what he described as negative coverage by the three outlets. Boutrous characterised the reporting cited by the administration as “garden-variety reporting” and argued that invoking national security as a “magic word” could not by itself justify the restrictions, The Hill reported. (ANI)
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)