Journalists denied White House access after Trump banned some media outlets — SkimNews
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- Donald Trump announced Friday he was barring CNN, Politico, and MS NOW from the White House, accusing them of writing "fiction or lies" — a decision he later justified as "cumulative stories over the last few years."
- Secret Service officers deactivated and confiscated the press badges of reporters from all three outlets on Saturday, including MS NOW's Akayla Gardner, CNN's Betsy Klein, and Politico's Cheyenne Haslett, though one MS NOW producer's badge reportedly still scanned.
- Trump suggested the ban could expand, telling a reporter "others to come" and naming the New York Times and Washington Post as "fake news," though no additional outlets have been formally banned.
- CNN, Politico, and MS NOW all publicly rejected the ban as a violation of First Amendment rights, with MS NOW saying it "intends to take any and all steps necessary to defend our First Amendment rights."
- White House Correspondents' Association president Jacqui Heinrich called on the administration to "immediately restore" access, warning that a standard used to exclude one outlet "could be applied to any outlet in the future."
- Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press president Bruce Brown said the ban was "flatly unconstitutional" and expected it to be "struck down quickly by the courts," noting the First Amendment bars denying access based on reporting content once some journalists are admitted.
- Trump's broader media posture includes ongoing or settled lawsuits against the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and BBC, with some resulting in multimillion-dollar settlements, according to the article.
Why it matters: The ban directly tests whether the White House can revoke press credentials based on editorial disagreement, and press-freedom groups are already mobilizing — the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press called the move "flatly unconstitutional" and predicted quick court defeat. With Trump signaling other outlets could be next, the stakes extend beyond three newsrooms to every journalist covering the presidency.
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