Major television networks pull out of presidential press pool following lawsuit filed against Trump by CNN, MS NOW, and ‘Politico’

Washington-based media outlets CNN, MS NOW (formerly MSNBC), and Politico announced on Monday that they were filing a lawsuit against the Donald Trump administration in response to the decision — made public last Friday by the president himself — to deny them access to the White House. In solidarity with their stance, the other four major television networks — CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox News, which make up the group that takes turns following the president with their cameras — have informed the government that they are withdrawing, effective immediately, from participating in the joint coverage provided by that press pool. This means they will not respond to the pool’s call and, therefore, will not share footage of the president’s events with the rest of the press.

“This morning, we notified the government that we are filing a lawsuit today to protect our First Amendment rights and defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes,” the three outlets said in a joint statement. They said the decision was made “without notice or process” and that Trump’s stated motivation, expressed by him on Truth, is that he does not like their coverage. “Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference.”

“This ban could not be a more direct assault on the First Amendment nor a more blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles,” the lawsuit, which can be read here, says.

Trump responded to the announcement on Truth Social, saying: “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 in our beloved United States of America. It is corrupt, purposeful, pervasive, fully coordinated, and totally out of control. It is a threat to our National Security, and must be stopped, NOW!”

The lawsuit names Trump, Susie Wiles, his chief of staff, Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, and Sean Curran of the Secret Service. Two agents under their command prevented three reporters who regularly cover the president from entering the complex on Saturday. The journalists were Betsy Klein of CNN, Akayla Gardner of MS NOW, and Cheyenne Haslett of Politico.

Klein said on air that her permanent pass had been confiscated (a “hard pass,” in Washington jargon) and that she was given no further explanation when she asked.

Those explanations had to be sought in a Trump post on Truth the previous day, which caught Washington’s political and media ecosystem by surprise and left the capital’s press feeling an unprecedented chill.

The message was written in the US president’s distinctive prose. ““I am proud to announce that, effective immediately, I am banning Fake News CNN, MSNOW (who recently changed their name from MSNBC due to lack of viewership and credibility!), and Politico (The recipients of an illegal and ridiculous $8 Million Dollar subscription, an All Time Record, directly from the United States Government, under Crooked Joe Biden, in order to keep them “alive.” Seems like corruption to me!),” he wrote.

Trump accused those outlets of “‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS!” although he offered no evidence to support the accusations that accompanied the announcement. The post argues that “Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America.” The post also contains a threat, of which he provided no further details: “Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow.”

“There’s something wrong with a country that can allow people to write purposely negative stories,” he said later at a meeting with the press in the Oval Office. He argued those outlets “intentionally write negative things, and they do so because they want to try to discredit Republicans and a Republican administration.” During that appearance, in what appeared to be a slip of the tongue, he said that it amounts to a veto on the “free press.” In response to a question about China, he stated that the United States “is also [a country] that represses” the freedom of the press.

If the case goes to trial, lawyers for the three outlets are expected to invoke the free-press argument to defend the interests of the two cable news networks and the digital outlet.

CNN and Trump have their own precedent. In 2018, the Republican president and the network faced off in court. That was when the White House revoked accreditation (and literally grabbed the microphone during a tense press conference) from one of the network’s star reporters, Jim Acosta. The judge assigned to the case quickly sided with the network. He ordered Acosta’s pass returned and the administration let the matter drop.

With Trump now more obsessed than he was then with carrying out a vindictive agenda against those he considers his enemies, it is hard to believe this time the matter will be resolved with a concession on his part.

In the 18 months since he returned to power, Trump has sued outlets such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, secured multimillion-dollar settlements from CBS and ABC News, pursued pollsters that published unfavorable or inaccurate surveys, and barred the Associated Press news agency from the Oval Office and the presidential plane when it refused — in contradiction of a government decree — to call the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.” That lawsuit is still unresolved.

Over the weekend, the president’s allies repeated the claim that his predecessor, Joe Biden, revoked credentials from “400 journalists” when he took office. In reality, it was a routine White House process in which reporters lose their passes when they choose not to renew them or when the presidency determines that a given journalist no longer covers it regularly. In the last round of that kind of purge, the Trump administration also canceled dozens of hard passes.

“The president said it very clearly in the Oval Office, describing his own plan as a ‘ban on the free press,’” said Jacqui Heinrich of Fox News, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA), speaking on behalf of the journalists who cover the president last Friday. “The Constitution protects freedom of the press from government interference. That protection does not depend on whether the president likes a news outlet’s coverage, agrees with its reporting, or approves of its reporters’ questions,” she added. “This is about more than journalists’ rights. It is about the American people’s right to receive a full and independent account of the activities, policies, and decisions of whoever holds the nation’s highest office. The Association stands with our colleagues at CNN, MS NOW and Politico, who were punished for doing their jobs.”

The White House Correspondents’ Association represents the professionals who permanently cover presidential news: about 900 journalists from more than 250 outlets worldwide.

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