MS NOW, CNN, Politico to sue Trump admin after White House press corps ban

MS NOW, CNN and POLITICO put out a statement on Monday about their plan to sue the government after President Donald Trump banished them from the White House press corps last week.

In a joint statement, the three news outlets stated that they would be filing a lawsuit today to ”protect their First Amendment rights and defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes.”

The statement goes on to say that “without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalist’s 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.”

The news organizations are asking a federal judge in Washington, DC to block the ban that was instituted last week and restore press credentials to their journalists. Some of the journalists from these agencies had their badges confiscated on Saturday when they attempted to enter the White House. Betsy Klein from CNN, said from outside the White House after she was denied entry “we can do our job anywhere.”

The lawsuit states, “The President banned CNN, MS NOW and POLITICO, and the individual reporters covering the news for those media organizations, in disregard of the most basic guarantees of the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause.” It also stated “He did so expressly for the improper purpose of retaliating against Plaintiffs for past news coverage because he deemed it ‘negative and chilling future reporting about him and his administration’s policies and actions.” It continued, “This ban could not be a more direct assault on the First Amendment nor a more blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles.”

When President Trump was asked about the ban on Friday and if it was likely to survive a legal challenge, he said, “I don’t think a court should allow fake news to be written day after day after day.” and “I think somebody has a right to keep them away if they’re going to write false stories all the time.”

The lawsuit adds that due process, a clause in the Constitution’s Fifth amendment, was not followed, because there was no advance notice of the ban and the news organizations did not have the chance to have their side heard before the ban took place on Friday of last week.

CNN in particular is part of a five-member network television press pool that shares resources so that they always accompany the President. CNN is scheduled for duty today, which includes a Marine One departure, but there were no outlets listed for primary TV pool for either Washington or out-of-town coverage.

Last year the White House banned AP reporters based on the outlet’s continued use of “Gulf of Mexico” after it had been renamed “Gulf of America,” but a US District Judge declared that the AP’s First Amendment rights had been violated. However, an appeals court agreed with the Trump administration and the AP remains banned from the press pool.

This comes after the Trump administration has worked to provide a seat for new media in the White House press pool and also updating rules set up by the White House Correspondents Association as to who can and cannot be on the White House press team.