Federal Judge Orders Trump to Lift White House Ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico

U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Kelly granted a temporary restraining order restoring the outlets’ access for 14 days as the case continues

NEED TO KNOW

• A federal judge has granted a temporary restraining order restoring CNN, MS NOW and Politico’s White House access days after President Donald Trump’s administration banned the outlets
• U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Kelly ruled that the administration violated due process by revoking press credentials for the three news outlets
• The order restores the outlets’ access for 14 days while the case continues, following a lawsuit claiming the ban violated First Amendment rights

A federal judge has ordered President Donald Trump‘s administration to temporarily restore three news outlets’ access to the White House following their ban.

On Monday, Sept. 21, three days after Trump, 80, announced that CNN, MS NOW and Politico would be banned from the president’s official residence and accused them of reporting “fake news,” the outlets filed a lawsuit to “protect our First Amendment rights,” seeking a temporary restraining order that would restore their credentials while the case continues.

U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Kelly ruled early on Thursday, Sept. 24, that the administration’s move to deny CNN, MS NOW and Politico reporters’ access and confiscate their press badges was done without “constitutionally adequate due process,” per a temporary restraining order obtained by PEOPLE.

Kelly, who was appointed by Trump in 2017, said that the reporters were not given “notice and an opportunity to be heard” before their credentials were revoked and that “the record lacks factual support” for the government’s argument that revoking the outlets’ access would be in the interest of national security.

“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,” he wrote.

Granting the temporary restraining order, Kelly ordered the Trump administration to “immediately return, reinstate and restore” the hard-pass press credentials of the journalists whose passes were revoked.

The order is set to remain in effect for 14 days, per the ruling.

This comes days after Trump said he “probably will” let the media outlets back into the White House because he expected Kelly to rule against him.

During a press availability with new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham at the annual United Nations General Assembly, Trump said, “This is a judge who’s not a particularly fair judge. So you never know, but I’m talking about national security. And I think we have a right to clean out fake news.” He then argued that the news outlets are “dangerous” when they report on the Iran war, “when they make false statements, false, malicious, and they don’t have sources, but they say they do.”

In court filings and a hearing on Wednesday, Sept. 23, an attorney representing the outlets argued that the ban contradicted prior rulings, violated due process and was not justified by the reasons cited by the White House, per CNN.

Attorneys representing the Trump administration said the outlets had been given an opportunity to contest the decision, citing letters sent after the ban went into effect, the outlet reported. These letters cited reporting that the administration said threatened national security, including CNN’s reporting on plans for the president’s White House ballroom.

The decision has prompted a wider response from news outlets, with Fox News, ABC, CBS and NBC writing in a statement, along with CNN, on Monday, Sept. 21, that their White House press pool, which distributes live coverage of events to news organizations across the country and the world, would suspend operations.

Meanwhile, the dispute between the president and CNN, MS NOW and Politico continued to play out in public this week, with Trump calling them “corrupt” and a “threat to our national security,” in a Truth Social post.

He also lashed out at CNN during a press exchange at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City on Tuesday, Sept. 22.

“I’m surprised that CNN is here covering me. You shouldn’t be here! You should not be here covering me. You said you weren’t going to cover me. You shouldn’t be covering me,” he told CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins.

In response, Collins could be heard saying, “The United Nations allowed us in, sir.” She then later shared in a post on X that CNN was “credentialed by the United Nations to cover the General Assembly.”

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The White House has also launched Trump TV: The Essentials Station, featuring 24/7 coverage of Trump’s administration.

PEOPLE reached out to Ted Boutrous, the attorney representing CNN, MS NOW and Politico, and the White House for comment but did not immediately hear back.

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