Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump from banning three news outlets from White House

A federal judge ordered President Donald Trump early Thursday to restore White House access to CNN, MSNOW and Politico, temporarily blocking his bid to ban them from accessing the executive mansion.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee, said the news outlets had met the "high bar" for a preliminary injunction and that White House must "immediately return, reinstate, and restore” their access.

The three outlets sued the White House earlier this week after Trump banned them from the White House over their coverage of his administration.

The lawsuit argues that presidents have long had adversarial relationships with reporters and haven't always agreed with what the press is reporting, but 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." 

After an initial hearing Wednesday afternoon, Kelly kept the ban in place while he weighed both sides of the case but seemed skeptical of the administration’s arguments that the outlets' coverage of the Iran war and ballroom construction could amount to a national security risk.

In the wee hours of the morning Thursday, however, he issued a ruling granting a 14-day injunction, ruling the White House needed clear standards for revoking media access and that the national security grounds cited for last Friday's action were "so vague it hardly does the trick.” 

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.