Judge orders White House to restore access for CNN, MS NOW and Politico

A federal judge ordered early Thursday that the White House immediately restore access for CNN, MS NOW and Politico, saying that President Donald Trump’s directive barring the three news outlets last week was most likely unconstitutional.In granting a 14-day temporary restraining order reinstating the outlets’ access while their legal challenge proceeds, U.S.District Judge Timothy Kelly wrote that the plaintiffs are likely to succeed in their lawsuit against the Trump administration, at least on the grounds that their credentials were revoked without due process.Trump, he wrote, did not dispute that the outlets “did not receive notice and an opportunity to be heard before their hard passes were revoked.”Trump had posted on social media before a Wednesday hearing in the case that he expected the “totally disloyal” Kelly, whom he nominated to the bench during his first term, to rule against him — adding that “as usual, we’ll go for appeal.”02:03Inside lawsuit challenging Trump's White House outlet ban00:0000:00Trump announced the ban on the three news outlets in a post on Truth Social on Friday, saying it was “a result of their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS!”“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,” he said.Thursday’s order rejected the White House’s argument that banning the outlets was motivated by national security concerns.“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,” Kelly wrote.Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office a short time after the post, Trump referred to his directive as “the ban on the free press.” “I don’t want them in my ...