The Justice Department argued that U.S. President Donald Trump should be allowed to reinstate his White House ban of CNN, MS NOW and Politico in a court filing late Friday ahead of a hearing next week in the lawsuit from the news companies. “[T]he President determined that Plaintiff news networks had published stories that adversely affect national security, including publishing possibly classified or sensitive information,” the Justice Department argued. “In doing so, these outlets each demonstrated their willingness to publish information that undermines national security. Restricting access to the White House removes one avenue for these outlets to obtain such harmful information.” In a court filing Monday night, the news organizations argued that the stories Trump was objecting to were just the type of reporting the Constitution’s framers intended to protect. They called the ban an “unlawful assault on the most fundamental First Amendment freedoms.” Judge Timothy Kelly is currently considering whether to extend a two-week order restoring the outlets’ access to the White House – an order that expires at the end of next week. Kelly will hold a hearing Thursday on the news outlets’ request for a preliminary injunction, which, if granted, would last for a longer period of time while the case plays out. The White House has claimed that the media companies published news stories that put national security at risk – an argument that Kelly initially rejected last week. Friday’s filing did not offer any new evidence that the outlets had threatened national security in the stories they had published. The Justice Department said that it was not required to show that the outlets “actually published classified information” to justify the ban, and it leaned into the idea that spreading “misinformation” is itself a national security risk. The Justice Department also stressed that the president had determined that the outlets had failed to meet standards of “professionalism” expected for journalists who are given the “privilege” to cover the president from the White House grounds. The relevant court precedent, the Justice Department argued, did not “prevent the President from concluding that bona fide journalists would identify sources instead of relying on anonymous sources, commit to factual accuracy, and provide the White House an opportunity to comment.” The news organizations are challenging Trump’s press ban on First Amendment grounds. They also argue that the administration violated their due process rights with how the White House implemented it. Trump announced the White House ban for the three outlets last month via a social media post, and in comments after, indicated he was doing so because of his general frustration with their coverage. However, the White House has since claimed that the news organizations had posed a national security threat with stories they published about the Iran war, the East Wing ballroom construction and the GOP midterm convention. Before Kelly restored their access, journalists at those outlets saw the Trump administration deactivate and confiscate the press badges they use to enter the White House grounds. Even after Kelly’s order, the White House has continued to limit the outlets’ ability to participate in the press pool – a smaller group of media organizations that, on a rotating basis, covering presidential events and movements that cannot accommodate the full White House press corp. The White House did not allow CNN to travel with the president on Saturday – as it was scheduled to do, under the pool rotation – when he flew to Tennessee. In his temporary restraining order issued last week, Kelly said that court precedent made clear that Trump violated the Constitution’s due process protections in how the administration implemented the ban, referring to a case that established that reporters are entitled to advance notice and a process to object before their access to the White House is cut off. Lawyers for the outlets are also asking him to find that the ban runs afoul of the First Amendment, to foreclose further “shenanigans” by the White House to try to get around the judge’s orders. This story has been updated with additional details.
