[UPDATE] CNN, MS NOW and Politico sue Trump over White House ban; TV pool suspends coverage
The suit names Trump, chief of staff Susie Wiles and two other advisers, and a hearing on the outlets' emergency request to block the ban is set for Wednesday, Sept. 23.
The suit. CNN, MS NOW and Politico sued the Trump administration on Monday, Sept. 21 in federal district court in Washington, asking a judge to declare the administration's ban on their White House reporters unconstitutional and to order their access restored. The suit names four defendants: Trump, chief of staff Susie Wiles and two other top advisers. The complaint alleges First Amendment retaliation and viewpoint discrimination plus a Fifth Amendment due-process violation. The outlets are represented by Theodore Boutrous Jr. of Gibson Dunn. The badges. Secret Service officers took the reporters' badges at the gate on Saturday, Sept. 19, a day after Trump announced the ban on Truth Social. MS NOW's Akayla Gardner said the officer told her only that her badge was disabled and that the decision was "above him." The pool. Hours later the White House television pool — the five networks, ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC, that take turns supplying live footage to everyone else — suspended its coverage. Trump was inaudible at a Monday press conference carried only on White House-supplied video with no usable audio, and C-SPAN skipped a helipad event for lack of a feed. CNN had been scheduled to run Monday's pool camera but was left off the rotation the White House published Sunday, Sept. 20. “The White House is not instituting an assault on the Free Press, something which I cherish. It is instituting an assault on the FAKE NEWS, something that has grown like Cancer.” — Donald Trump, on Truth Social (TS: Same judge, Timothy Kelly, drew this case — and he gave CNN a TRO in three days last time.) What next. Judge Timothy Kelly, who ruled for CNN's Jim Acosta in 2018, hears the emergency motion Wednesday, Sept. 23.
PREVIOUSLY
- Fri., Sept. 18 — Trump announced on Truth Social that CNN, MS NOW and Politico would lose White House access, naming no single story and citing "cumulative stories over the last two years."
- Sat., Sept. 19 — Secret Service officers turned the three outlets' reporters away at the gate and confiscated their hard passes; all three said they would sue.
What the last three credential fights actually won:
- Acosta, 2018: pass restored 12 days after it was pulled, with no appeal
- AP, 2025: Judge Trevor McFadden's injunction came 46 days after filing; the D.C. Circuit stayed most of it on June 6, leaving it only for the East Room
- Sherrill v. Knight, 1977: won reporters notice and written reasons, not a press pass
RELATED
White House says press access is a privilege, not a right
The administration's release argues the First Amendment protects the right to publish but does not entitle an outlet to a hard pass, a briefing room seat or a pool slot. It lists prior Democratic-era restrictions, cites no court case, and says a 2023 credentialing change cut off more than 440 reporters.
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Vance compares Politico's White House access to seating Breitbart under Obama
Vance said the three outlets were not banned from reporting, only from special access — the administration's core answer to the viewpoint-discrimination claim. He cited a figure that 92% of their Trump coverage is negative.