The trio of news outlets that President Donald Trump abruptly banned from accessing the White House will be in court Wednesday to argue their expulsion was unconstitutional and should be lifted immediately.“This ban could not be a more direct assault on the First Amendment nor a more blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles,” lawyers for CNN, Politico and MS NOW said in a court filing Monday ahead of the hearing.“The ban is unconstitutional and should be immediately restrained,” they contended, citing legal precedent in the District of Columbia and U.S.Supreme Court.The news organizations are scheduled to make their case to U.S.
District Judge Timothy Kelly at a 3:30 p.m.ET hearing.Late Tuesday, the Justice Department defended the ban in a court filing, arguing that Trump had decided the outlets “failed to maintain basic minimum ‘standards of professionalism and decorum expected of those given access to the White House Complex, including’ by ‘publishing sensitive or classified information.’”The outlets’ “access to the WhiteHouse is a privilege — not a right,” the filing said.On Tuesday, the White House Press Office sent letters to the three outlets alleging their coverage involved “trafficking in verifiable falsehoods about national security and other issues, and publishing sensitive or classified information,” the department said in the filing.
The letters also were filed in court.The stories cited in the letters included reporting on the construction on the White House ballroom and its related military security complex, the status of munitions supplies being used in the Iran war, an alleged FBI leak investigation involving a journalist, and sanctions on Russia.In the letters, the administration gave the organizations a deadline of 5 p.m.Friday to “contest this initial decision” to bar them from the White House or the decision “will be final,” the filing said.The outlets did not immediately respo...