{"slug":"white-house-press-ban-cnn-ms-now-politico-2026","title":"White House Bans CNN, MS NOW and Politico Reporters; Briefly Keeps Them Out Despite Court Order (September 2026)","date":"2026-09-18","lastUpdated":"2026-10-04","description":"In September 2026 President Trump announced he was \"banning\" CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, focusing, in a federal judge's words, on \"the alleged lack of truthfulness and negativity\" of their reporting; according to the court's order, their journalists' hard-pass credentials were revoked on 18 September. The Justice Department later defended the ban on national-security and \"professionalism and decorum\" grounds. Judge Timothy Kelly granted a temporary restraining order, finding nothing in the pre-suit record suggesting national security motivated the revocations and that required process had not been followed. On 24 September the outlets' reporters were initially denied entry despite the order; access was restored that day after the court ordered the government to respond.","summary":"Trump revoked the White House press passes of three news organisations over their coverage. A federal judge ordered the passes restored, doubting the government's after-the-fact national-security rationale. The White House at first kept the reporters out despite the order, then complied the same day.","category":"press-freedom","severity":"major","ongoing":true,"sources":[{"url":"https://abcnews.com/US/judge-orders-white-house-restore-press-passes-cnn/story?id=136709442","title":"Judge orders White House to restore press passes for CNN, Politico and MS NOW","publisher":"ABC News"},{"url":"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/doj-defends-trump-white-house-media-ban/","title":"DOJ defends Trump White House media ban, citing national security and \"professionalism and decorum\"","publisher":"CBS News"}],"draft":false,"status":"published","tags":["press freedom","White House press corps","CNN","MS NOW","Politico","First Amendment","court order"],"relatedEntries":["trump-second-term-press-freedom-attacks-ap-ban","trump-threatens-jail-journalists-iran","press-freedom-violations"],"timeline":[{"date":"2026-09-18","title":"Hard passes revoked","summary":"The three outlets' hard passes are revoked, according to the court's later order; Trump says he is 'banning' them from the White House (ABC News)."},{"date":"2026-09-21","title":"Outlets sue; TV pool suspended","summary":"CNN, MS NOW and Politico sue Trump, chief of staff Susie Wiles, communications director Steven Cheung and Secret Service director Sean Curran. CNN is dropped from the UN trip and the other networks suspend the TV pool (CBS News)."},{"date":"2026-09-22","title":"DOJ defends the ban; late-night notice letters","summary":"The Justice Department cites 'minimum standards of professionalism' and protection of classified information; the White House sends notice letters after 10 p.m. giving the outlets until Friday to respond (CBS News; ABC News)."},{"date":"2026-09-23","title":"TRO hearing","summary":"Judge Kelly signals the circuit's process for terminating credentials was not followed (ABC News)."},{"date":"2026-09-24","title":"TRO granted; entry initially refused, then restored","summary":"The court orders the hard passes immediately restored. Reporters are denied entry that morning; after the court orders a response by 12:30 p.m., access is restored (ABC News)."}],"location":{"name":"The White House, Washington, D.C.","lat":38.8977,"lng":-77.0365},"custom":{"era":"second-term","posture":"active-litigation","internationalLaw":[{"statute":"International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights","article":"Article 19","provision":"Freedom to seek, receive and impart information; restrictions only as provided by law and necessary"}],"iccRelevance":false,"victims":"Journalists of CNN, MS NOW and Politico who held White House hard passes, including CNN's Betsy Klein; indirectly, the public served by the television pool","perpetrators":"President Donald Trump; White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Communications Director Steven Cheung and Secret Service Director Sean Curran (named defendants)","keyPoints":["The court order dates the revocation of the CNN, MS NOW and Politico hard passes to 18 September 2026; CNN's Betsy Klein had her pass taken on Saturday 19 September (ABC News).","Judge Timothy Kelly: 'Nothing in the record that predates this suit suggests that the revocation of Plaintiffs' hard passes 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' (ABC News).","Notice letters accusing the outlets of 'trafficking in verifiable falsehoods' and publishing classified information were sent days after the ban took effect; the judge said the process set out by D.C. Circuit precedent 'wasn't followed here' (CBS News; ABC News).","On 24 September the outlets' lawyer told the court the government had 'already repeatedly violated' the TRO after reporters were denied entry that morning; a White House declaration said access was restored at 9:55 a.m., and reporters were back on the grounds around noon (ABC News).","CNN was removed from the presidential trip to the UN General Assembly; CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox suspended the television pool in solidarity (CBS News).","CBS News and dozens of other news organisations filed an amicus brief supporting the three outlets (CBS News)."],"searchAliases":["Cable News Networks v. Trump","hard pass revocation","White House media ban"],"legalBasis":"First Amendment (viewpoint discrimination in access to areas generally open to the press); Fifth Amendment due process (notice and opportunity to be heard before revoking a hard pass, per D.C. Circuit precedent); ICCPR Art. 19. No international-crime characterisation is in play.","postureNote":"Temporary restraining order granted 24 September 2026 in Cable News Networks, Inc. v. Trump (D.D.C.); access restored the same day after an initial refusal. Further proceedings were pending as of the latest reporting fetched; no ruling on a preliminary injunction was located.","relatedIncidents":["trump-second-term-press-freedom-attacks-ap-ban","trump-threatens-jail-journalists-iran","press-freedom-violations"]}}