[UPDATE] Five television networks suspend White House pool coverage as Trump launches 24/7 streaming feed

Judge Timothy Kelly scheduled a Wednesday 3:30 p.m. hearing on an emergency restraining order to restore hard passes for three barred outlets.

The blackout. All five television networks in the White House pool — ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC — suspended joint coverage of Trump after the Secret Service deactivated entry badges for CNN, MS NOW and Politico on Saturday, Sept. 19, a day after Trump announced the ban on Truth Social. The withdrawal left Monday's helipad ribbon-cutting without independent television cameras or a boom microphone, leaving the president's remarks inaudible over Marine One. The broadcast. The administration answered at 7 p.m. ET on Monday, Sept. 21, by launching Trump TV, a 24/7 YouTube stream that opened with a rerun of a July 3 Mount Rushmore speech. Press aides told barred journalists they can report from the street outside the gates, while a substitute pool crew lacked the equipment to capture usable audio. What next. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly scheduled remote oral arguments on an emergency restraining order for Wednesday, Sept. 23 at 3:30 p.m. ET, while Robert Garcia (Rep-D California) demanded written answers from Communications Director Steven Cheung by Oct. 5.

PREVIOUSLY

After the Secret Service deactivated credentials for CNN, MS NOW, and Politico following a Sept. 18 order, the three newsrooms filed an emergency federal lawsuit on Monday, Sept. 21 as five television networks suspended joint pool coverage in protest.

Who the lawsuit names and who now shoots the pool:

Four defendants named in the outlets' suit: Trump, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Communications Director Steven Cheung and Secret Service Director Sean Curran.
Three reporters joined as plaintiffs: Betsy Klein of CNN, Akayla Gardner of MS NOW and Cheyenne Haslett of Politico.
The White House assigned two replacement crews: Hearst in Washington and Real America's Voice for New York travel.

ContextJudge Timothy Kelly, who will hear this case Wednesday, Sept. 23, is the same judge who ordered CNN reporter Jim Acosta's pass restored in November 2018, nine days after the White House seized it; a separate court threw out a 30-day suspension of reporter Brian Karem in 2019. Both rulings turned on due process — the White House has to give a reporter notice and a reason before taking a badge. Trump announced this ban on Truth Social on Friday, Sept. 18, and the Secret Service disabled the badges the next day, Saturday, Sept. 19. The rotating pool of reporters who cover the president in tight spaces dates to the 1950s; in February the White House took control of who gets those slots from the White House Correspondents' Association, which had assigned them for decades. Committee to Protect Journalists chief Jodie Ginsberg said calling journalists a national security threat is 'the kind of narrative we frequently hear from autocrats.'