The facts
News organizations targeted by President Donald Trump's attempt to ban them from the White House asked a federal judge late Monday to extend his order temporarily restoring their access, describing the ban as an "unlawful assault on the most fundamental First Amendment freedoms." The filing was submitted by attorneys for CNN, MS NOW and Politico.
The outlets said actions the administration has taken to "retaliate" against them, even after the judge ordered the White House to allow them inside, underscore that the "motive is to punish and chill journalism they dislike."
US District Judge Tim Kelly last week issued a temporary restraining order requiring the White House to reactivate press badges for journalists at the three outlets, after the badges had been turned off earlier this month, preventing the journalists from entering the White House grounds. Kelly was appointed by Trump during his first term. He initially rejected White House claims that national security concerns motivated the move, but signaled he would consider additional evidence explaining that supposed justification.
But the outlets argued that even as the administration pushed the national security reasoning in court, Trump and other officials have said the ban is about punishing negative coverage. "President Trump has continued to justify the ban on the ground that he dislikes Plaintiffs' coverage of him and his administration without even mentioning national security," the organizations said.
The outlets also pointed to a Sunday press appearance by Attorney General Todd Blanche, in which he described the national security risk as being the result of "one-sided media coverage" from certain outlets. "The real reason Defendants imposed the ban, expressed contemporaneously and repeatedly since then, is that the President dislikes Plaintiffs' supposedly 'negative' reporting," the outlets said.
Kelly's order restored the outlets' access for two weeks, and on Thursday, press badges that had been confiscated under the ban were returned and turned back on. But the administration refused to allow CNN to join Trump on Air Force One during his trip to Tennessee on Saturday as the TV pool member assigned to travel with him that day. The White House pool is a smaller group of news organizations that cover, on a rotating basis, presidential events and movements that cannot accommodate the entire White House press corps.
The new filing referenced the pool episode to argue that the White House has "persisted in unpredictably and inconsistently" implementing the ban. "The White House's words and actions leave little doubt that it will immediately reinstitute a complete ban of CNN, MS NOW, and POLITICO if allowed the opportunity," the media companies said.
The judge's order expires on October 8, and the outlets are asking for a preliminary injunction, which would maintain their access while the lawsuit plays out. They also urged Kelly to rule on First Amendment grounds: "Because no amount of manufactured process could ever allow a 'ban on the free press' under the First Amendment, entering a preliminary injunction on First Amendment grounds prevents further 'shenanigans,'" their counsel warned.
When Trump announced on September 18 that he was banning the news organizations, he said it was because of "their constant 'reporting' FAKE NEWS!" The White House has since pointed to stories the outlets published about the Iran war, the East Wing ballroom construction, and even the GOP's midterm convention to claim that their coverage had "threatened national security and/or spread falsehoods." Letters from the White House highlighting those reports gave the outlets until 5 p.m. Friday to object before Trump made a "final" decision. The Justice Department claimed the letters were enough to overcome due process concerns, an argument Kelly rejected, ruling the administration had failed to convince him this was an "extraordinary" circumstance.
The Trump administration has until Friday to respond to Monday's filing, and the outlets will submit a final written brief by next Monday. Kelly said he will schedule a hearing and plans to rule "expeditiously."
Our take
The national security threat was a fucking ballroom. Trump and his clowns stripped press badges from CNN, MS NOW and Politico because their coverage of East Wing decorating, the Iran war and a GOP convention supposedly endangered the republic. A ballroom. The president looked at some interior shots and decided journalism about wallpaper was a danger to the nation, the absolute dickhead.
His own attorney general then walked out on a Sunday show and torched the whole lie. Todd Blanche called the risk one-sided media coverage. Not leaks, not sources, just mean reporting that bruised the president's ego. The top lawyer in the country translated national security into hurt feelings and expected a judge to salute.
Even the Trump-appointed judge Tim Kelly told them to fuck off with that excuse. Kelly rejected the extraordinary circumstance claim, ordered the badges back on and watched the White House return them on Thursday only to sulk on Saturday. CNN's pool rotation for the Tennessee trip got blocked anyway, proving the order meant nothing to these petty bastards.
The outlets told the court the administration will immediately slap the full ban back in place the second it can, and every inconsistent move since the ruling backs that up. They pushed fake national security in court while Trump himself kept ranting about fake news coverage he dislikes. The Justice Department tried to sell due process via letters giving outlets until 5 p.m. Friday to object, but Kelly saw the manufactured process for the shenanigans it was.
This is what a press ban looks like when the entire justification is a decorating dispute and bruised vanity. The White House keeps proving it will punish coverage it hates and call the tantrum security. Kelly's order expires October 8 and the outlets want a preliminary injunction on First Amendment grounds to stop the next round of bullshit. The only surprise would be if these clowns suddenly grew a spine instead of another excuse.
