CNN, MS Now, Politico Sue Trump to Overturn Ban From White House

CNN, MS Now, and Politico sued President Trump and top officials in federal court today to fight his banning the three news outlets from the White House.

Concomitantly, the major news networks, including the slavishly pro-Trump Fox, have stopped pool coverage of the White House events.

Trump’s reason for the ban three days ago: He’s offended by their news coverage, likely because they don’t cover the administration like Pravda covered the Stalin Regime in Soviet Russia.

The Ban

Seemingly of a sudden at 3:04 p.m. September 18, Trump erupted in fury at the networks on Truth Social. Trump’s erupting in fury about the media is nothing unusual. But in this case, the ban from the White House ensued.

“I am proud to announce that, effective immediately, I am banning Fake News CNN, MSNOW (who recently changed their name from MSNBC due to lack of viewership and credibility!), and Politico (The recipients of an illegal and ridiculous $8 Million Dollar subscription, an All Time Record, directly from the United States Government, under Crooked Joe Biden, in order to keep them ‘alive.’ Seems like corruption to me!), from the White House as a result of their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS!” Trump wrote:

Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America. Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow. Thank you for your attention to this matter! 

Inquiring minds want to know why, given that Trump has undoubtedly believed that the outlets have been reporting fake news about him since he announced his candidacy in 2016, he only decided to ban them now.

The answer, CNN reported, is Trump gofer Natalie Harp, who wrote weirdly intimate letters to the president.

“President Donald Trump’s close aide Natalie Harp showed him clips of media coverage last week before he banned Politico, CNN and MS NOW from the White House,” the hate-Trump network reported, citing “people familiar with the matter”:

One source said a graphic from Politico was among the material that is believed to have infuriated the president and helped inform his decision to bar the three outlets from the White House grounds. The president also viewed clips from television, a second source said.

Trump’s pronouncement, which came after a string of setbacks in the courts and Congress, caught many advisers — including those who deal with the press on a daily basis — by surprise. Trump did not point to any particular story or tension point as the cause when asked about it later that day.

“No reason,” he said Friday, when asked about the ban, adding, “It’s a very simple ban. I don’t want them in my office. I don’t want them here. I would say the ban would go as far as you can.”

The Lawsuit

Filed in the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C., the 27-page lawsuit says Trump and several officials, including Assistant Communications Director Steven Cheung, Secret Service Director Sean Curran, and White House Chief of Staff Susan Wiles, trespassed their First- and Fifth-Amendment protected rights.

“The President was expressly clear about his viewpoint-discriminatory motive for targeting CNN, MS NOW, and POLITICO,” the two-count lawsuit’s introduction observes:

He called it the “result of their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS!” — a term he routinely applies not to reporting that is false, but to any reporting he dislikes. He then threatened there would be “[o]ther Fake News Media Outlets to follow.” In an Oval Office press conference later that day, the President doubled down. He was clear there was no particular story that triggered this decision — saying “it’s really just cumulative stories over the last two years” — and equally clear that the ban was motivated by his disdain for reporting he considers “one-sided” and “never good” because it “diminish[es]” him and his accomplishments. 

The ban is “direct assault” on the First Amendment, the lawsuit alleges, because it ‘retaliates against protected newsgathering and speech.” And Trump “has made no attempt to hide” that fact.

After Trump announced the ban on Truth Social, he explained his “motive” to reporters, the lawsuit continues. If outlets must publish “purposely negative stories … that’s fine, but I don’t have to let them into my, into the people’s house.”

Continues the lawsuit:

Asked whether there was “a particular reason”’ for the ban, the President answered: “No, just because — no, no, it’s — it’s really just cumulative stories over the last two years.… They purposely write negative news. And they do that because they want to try and diminish the Republicans and a Republican administration.”

Asked whether he was trying to intimidate the press, the President answered: “No, no, I dislike dishonest press like you. I think you’re terrible. But I dislike dishonest, I like to see honest press.”

Asked whether he thought the ban would “survive a court challenge,” the President answered: “Well, we’ll see…. I think it’s good to point it out whether it survives or doesn’t. I mean, I don’t think a court should allow, depends on the judge you get, to be honest with you.”

Count One alleges the ban trespasses the due-process clause of the Fifth Amendment because “[m]embers of the press have liberty and property interests in hard-pass press credentials and the access those credentials afford.”

Count Two alleges a violation of the First Amendment because the president has retaliated against the plaintiffs because he dislikes their reporting.

Along with the lawsuit, the White House has lost the networks’ press pool coverage, CNN reported. “The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government,” CNN, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News and Fox News Media jointly said. “No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting.”