US judge blocks Trump’s White House ban on CNN, MS NOW, and Politico

Trump-nominated judge rules that outlets are likely to succeed in claim they were denied due process.

A CNN sticker is seen on equipment in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on September 19, 2026 [Oliver Contreras/AFP]

A United States judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s ban on three news outlets from the White House, ordering his administration to immediately restore their access pending a later court hearing.

Issuing a temporary restraining order early on Thursday, US District Judge Timothy J Kelly said CNN, MS NOW and Politico were likely to prevail in their legal challenge to Trump’s ban on several grounds, including that it violated their due process rights.

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Kelly said the outlets had made a convincing case that they were stripped of their credentials without due process and were likely to suffer “irreparable harm” in the absence of the temporary order.

Kelly, who was nominated by Trump during his first term in 2017, also found there was a public interest in blocking the ban “given the importance of the free press”.

Rejecting the Trump administration’s claim that the outlets had been barred to protect national security, Kelly said the government’s argument lacked “factual support”.

“Defendants offer no declarations or other support – classified or unclassified – explaining how any of the reporting they identified in their letters to Plaintiffs damaged the national security,” Kelly said in the ruling.

Kelly ruled that the Trump administration should “immediately return, reinstate, and restore” the outlets’ access to the White House.

Kelly imposed the injunction for 14 days, pending further proceedings.

Theodore Boutrous, the lawyer representing the outlets, welcomed the ruling as a vindication of the “freedom of the press, due process and the rule of law”.

“We greatly appreciate the court’s swift action,” Boutrous said in a statement.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump, who has launched a slew of attacks on the media as president, on Friday announced that he had barred CNN, Politico and MS NOW from covering the White House, citing their reporting of unspecified “fake news”.

Trump later claimed in a news conference that the outlets produced “negative news” and sought to “diminish” his administration and the Republican Party.

CNN, Politico and MS NOW on Monday announced they had jointly filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the ban, arguing it violated their free speech and due process rights.

特朗普提名的法官裁定，媒体机构很可能胜诉，声称他们被剥夺了正当程序。

2026年9月19日，在华盛顿特区白宫詹姆斯·布雷迪新闻发布室的设备上可以看到CNN的贴纸。[Oliver Contreras/AFP]

美国一名法官阻止了唐纳德·特朗普总统禁止三家新闻媒体进入白宫的禁令，并命令其政府立即恢复这三家媒体的访问权限，等待日后的法庭听证会。

美国地区法官蒂莫西·J·凯利周四早些时候发布了一项临时限制令，称 CNN、MS NOW 和 Politico 可能会在对特朗普禁令的法律挑战中胜诉，理由包括该禁令侵犯了他们的正当程序权利。

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凯利表示，这些媒体机构已充分证明，他们的资质在没有经过正当程序的情况下被剥夺，如果没有临时禁令，他们可能会遭受“无法弥补的损害”。

凯利在 2017 年特朗普的第一任期内被提名，他也认为“鉴于新闻自由的重要性”，阻止这项禁令符合公众利益。

凯利驳斥了特朗普政府关于禁止这些媒体是为了保护国家安全的说法，称政府的论点缺乏“事实依据”。

凯利在裁决中表示：“被告没有提供任何声明或其他支持——无论是机密的还是非机密的——来解释他们在给原告的信中提到的任何报道是如何损害国家安全的。”

凯利裁定，特朗普政府应“立即恢复”这些媒体进入白宫的权限。

凯利颁布了为期 14 天的禁令，等待进一步的诉讼程序。

代表这些媒体的律师西奥多·布特鲁斯对这一裁决表示欢迎，认为这是对“新闻自由、正当程序和法治”的维护。

“我们非常感谢法院的迅速行动，”布特鲁斯在一份声明中说。

白宫方面尚未对此事作出回应。

特朗普作为总统，曾对媒体发起一系列攻击。周五，他宣布禁止 CNN、Politico 和 MS NOW 报道白宫新闻，理由是它们报道了未指明的“假新闻”。

特朗普后来在新闻发布会上声称，这些媒体制造了“负面新闻”，试图“削弱”他的政府和共和党。

CNN、Politico 和 MS NOW 周一宣布，他们已联合提起诉讼，寻求推翻该禁令，理由是该禁令侵犯了他们的言论自由和正当程序权利。