Judge orders restoration of White House passes to CNN, MS NOW, Politico; reporters regain access

WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to reinstate the White House press passes of CNN, MS NOW and Politico journalists and crews “immediately.” The temporary restraining order will remain in effect for 14 days unless otherwise ordered by the court.

In his order, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly said the media outlets had met the legal thresholds to obtain a temporary restraining order, The Associated Press reported. He said they were likely to succeed in showing that their White House “hard pass” press passes were revoked without due process.

Banned reporters allowed access to White House

Update 12:07 p.m. Sept. 24: CNN, MS NOW and Politico representatives were allowed back into the White House and the grounds of the Executive Mansion on Thursday at noon after a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to temporarily reinstate its access.

CNN reporter Betsy Klein was allowed to reenter the White House after being denied access four times.

CNN, MS NOW reporters denied access again

Update 12:01 p.m. ET Sept. 24: CNN reporter Betsy Klein attempted for a fourth time to gain access to the White House but again was denied entry, the cable news network reported.

MS NOW also reported that a reporter was denied access again during the 11 a.m. ET hour.

MS NOW White House reporter Laura Barrón-López said she was denied entry onto the grounds.

“I didn’t get any answer on why they were doing this,” Barrón-López said. “There was no White House official around for me to ask why we were being, continued to be denied access despite the judge’s order overnight.”

Judge gives White House deadline to respond

Update 10:30 a.m. ET Sept. 24: U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly has given the Trump administration a 12:30 p.m. ET deadline to address why reporters from CNN, MS NOW and Politico have not had their press passes reinstated.

The judge was responding to an emergency request by the news outlets after they were denied entry into the White House on Thursday.

Kelly is seeking answers to an apparent violation of a restraining order he signed early Thursday.

News outlets seek emergency hearing

Update 9:58 a.m. ET Sept. 24: CNN, MS NOW and Politico have filed a request with Judge Timothy Kelly for an emergency hearing Thursday after being refused access to the White House, CNN reported.

The White House has provided no details about why the journalists have not been admitted to the White House.

The White House did not respond to emails from The Associated Press asking for comment on the order and whether it would let reporters back inside.

Reporters still blocked

Update 8:47 a.m. ET Sept. 24: Despite the order from Kelly, some reporters from the affected organizations were still unable to gain access to the White House, The Associated Press reported.

A CNN reporter said she was denied entry to the White House compound. Politico and MSN NOW both said reporters were also blocked.

Original report: The three news outlets sued President Donald Trump in the case filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Cable News Networks, Inc. v. Trump, after their credentials were revoked on Sept. 18.

Read the restraining order here.

Kelly, a Trump appointee, also rejected, for now, the administration’s argument that revoking the outlets’ press credentials was necessary to protect national security, The New York Times reported.

“For one thing, nothing in the record that predates this suit suggests that the revocation of Plaintiffs’ hard passes was motivated by national security concerns,” Kelly wrote. “Certainly, that is not what President Trump said when he announced that he was ‘banning’ Plaintiffs from the White House -- instead, he focused on the alleged lack of truthfulness and negativity of Plaintiffs’ reporting.”

Trump has said he would appeal the ruling.

Kelly’s ruling early Thursday temporarily halts events that began Friday, when the president wrote in a Truth Social post that he was banning the news outlets from the White House grounds because of their reporting of what he called “fake news,” the Times reported.

The judge said the government must have clear standards for conduct that would lead to revoking a press pass, the AP reported. He called the standard of objectionable reporting outlined in the letters that the White House sent the outlets “so vague it hardly does the trick.”

On Saturday, journalists for CNN, MS NOW and Politico were denied access to the White House grounds, the Times reported. The three outlets filed their lawsuit on Monday, arguing that the president’s ban violated their First Amendment rights.

Other media outlets responded by scaling back their routine coverage of presidential events in an act of solidarity with CNN, MS NOW and Politico, according to the Times.

“This is a strong ruling vindicating freedom of the press, due process and the rule of law. We greatly appreciate the court’s swift action,” Theodore Boutrous, an attorney representing the media companies, told CNN.

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