Media outlets access to White House restored after a chaotic few hours

A US federal judge had ordered the White House to ‘immediately return, reinstate and restore’ the three news outlets’ access.

An updated solidarity sign adding CNN, MS NOW and Politico hangs outside The Associated Press news agency booth at the White House grounds after US President Donald Trump banned the three major news outlets from the White House, in Washington, DC, the United States [File: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters]

The White House said it has reinstated journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico after a federal judge deemed US President Donald Trump’s ban of the three news outlets likely unconstitutional and ordered their access immediately restored.

The midday reinstatement on Thursday came after a chaotic few hours when the journalists continued to be blocked from entering the White House grounds. That prompted the three news organisations to request an immediate hearing before US District Judge Tim Kelly, who issued his decision overnight.

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Judge Kelly had ordered the White House overnight to “immediately return, reinstate, and restore ” the three outlets’ access. He said they had met the legal thresholds to obtain a temporary restraining order, in effect for 14 days, and were likely to succeed in showing that their press passes were revoked without due process.

“This is a high bar, but Plaintiffs have met it,” he wrote.

But the journalists continued to be barred for a few hours on Thursday, the news organisations said.

This is the latest in a series of confrontations over press freedom that have played out over the past week in the courtroom and on the White House grounds. It comes during a heavy news cycle, with Chinese leader Xi Jinping visiting with Trump and world leaders gathered for the United Nations General Assembly.

Trump first announced he was banning the outlets on Friday, saying those news organisations “shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States”.

Only later did he argue that their reporting was a risk to national security. The outlets argued in a joint lawsuit that the ban was a blatant violation of the First Amendment of the US Constitution because it singled them out for the content of their coverage.

The three outlets sued Trump and other members of his administration on Monday, saying the ban violated First Amendment protections for free speech and a free press, as well as their due process rights. A coalition of press freedom groups and dozens of news organisations, including The Associated Press and Reuters news agencies, later filed a legal brief supporting the three news outlets.

Judge Kelly — who Trump nominated in 2017 and who ordered a CNN journalist’s access restored in a similar case in 2018 — said the government must have clear standards for conduct that would lead to revoking a press pass. He called the standard of objectionable reporting outlined in letters that the White House sent the outlets “so vague it hardly does the trick”.

The judge also made clear he did not buy the administration’s argument, in a court filing it made on Tuesday, that the news outlets’ reporting endangered national security — and noted that Trump himself had not used that argument in the beginning, focusing solely on what he called negative coverage.

“Nothing in the record … suggests that the revocation of Plaintiffs’ hard passes was motivated by national security concerns,” he wrote.

The ruling came after Kelly heard arguments in an emergency hearing Wednesday. Temporary restraining orders are typically designed to preserve the status quo pending a closer review of the case by the court.

“This is a strong ruling vindicating freedom of the press, due process and the rule of law,” Theodore Boutrous Jr, a lawyer for the outlets, said in an emailed statement. “We greatly appreciate the court’s swift action.”

But a few hours after the ruling, reporters from those outlets said they were not allowed to enter the White House.

The White House did not respond to emails from The Associated Press asking for comment on the order and whether it would let reporters back inside.

Press pool suspends coverage

The ban prompted other media outlets to take action in solidarity. The US network press pool — consisting of the five major networks, including CNN — has suspended coverage of Trump pool events pending further notice.

The ruling did not address that rotating pool. After the hearing on Wednesday, the networks continued to refuse to air footage of Trump without assurances that CNN would be permitted into the White House pool.

Journalists from Fox News, CBS and NBC were present but not shooting video at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, where the president formally welcomed Xi.

Other television outlets whose crews were present, according to signs on their tripods and cameras, were NewsNation, Newsmax, Right Side Broadcasting Network, One America News Network and LindellTV.

美国联邦法官曾下令白宫“立即恢复”这三家新闻媒体的采访权限。

在美国总统唐纳德·特朗普禁止三大新闻媒体CNN、MS NOW和Politico进入白宫后，一块更新的声援标语牌悬挂在美联社新闻亭外，标语牌上增加了这三家媒体的名称。[图片：Kevin Lamarque/路透社]

白宫表示，在一名联邦法官裁定美国总统唐纳德·特朗普对 CNN、MS NOW 和 Politico 这三家新闻机构的禁令可能违宪并下令立即恢复其访问权限后，白宫已恢复了这三家媒体记者的职务。

周四中午，记者们被允许进入白宫的局面在经历了几个小时的混乱后得以恢复。此前，这三家新闻机构要求立即向美国地区法官蒂姆·凯利提出听证请求，凯利法官于当晚作出裁决。

专家称，特朗普与习近平峰会将聚焦“稳定”双边关系（共四项，此为第一项）。

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凯利法官连夜下令白宫“立即恢复”这三家媒体的采访权限。他表示，这三家媒体已达到获得临时限制令的法律门槛，该限制令有效期为14天，而且他们很可能成功证明，他们的记者证是在未经正当程序的情况下被吊销的。

“这是一个很高的门槛，但原告已经达到了，”他写道。

但据新闻机构称，周四当天，记者们仍然被禁止进入几个小时。

这是过去一周在法庭和白宫发生的一系列围绕新闻自由的对抗中的最新一起。正值新闻密集之际，中国领导人习近平访问特朗普，世界各国领导人齐聚联合国大会。

特朗普周五首次宣布禁止这些媒体，称这些新闻机构“在报道美国总统时，不应该不断地编造或报道虚构和谎言”。

他后来才辩称他们的报道对国家安全构成威胁。这些媒体机构在联合诉讼中辩称，该禁令公然违反了美国宪法第一修正案，因为它针对的是他们的报道内容。

周一，这三家媒体起诉特朗普及其政府其他成员，称该禁令违反了宪法第一修正案对言论自由和新闻自由的保护，以及他们的正当程序权利。随后，包括美联社和路透社在内的数十家新闻机构和多个新闻自由组织联合提交了一份法律文件，支持这三家媒体。

凯利法官——特朗普于2017年提名，并曾在2018年一起类似案件中下令恢复一名CNN记者的采访权限——表示，政府必须制定明确的行为标准，才能吊销记者证。他称白宫致各媒体的信函中列出的“不当报道”标准“过于模糊，几乎起不到任何作用”。

法官还明确表示，他不接受政府周二提交的法庭文件中提出的论点，即新闻媒体的报道危及国家安全——并指出，特朗普本人一开始并没有使用这一论点，而是只关注他所谓的负面报道。

“记录中没有任何内容……表明撤销原告的通行证是出于国家安全考虑，”他写道。

凯利法官在周三举行的紧急听证会上听取了双方的辩论后作出了裁决。临时限制令通常旨在维持现状，以便法院对案件进行更深入的审查。

“这是一项强有力的裁决，维护了新闻自由、正当程序和法治，”媒体机构的律师小西奥多·布特鲁斯在一份电子邮件声明中表示。“我们非常感谢法院的迅速行动。”

但裁决公布几个小时后，这些媒体的记者表示，他们被禁止进入白宫。

美联社曾多次向白宫发送电子邮件，询问有关该命令以及是否会允许记者重返白宫内部，但白宫均未作出回应。

新闻媒体暂停报道

这一禁令促使其他媒体采取声援行动。包括CNN在内的五大电视网组成的美国电视新闻团已暂停报道特朗普的媒体活动，直至另行通知。

该裁决并未涉及轮换记者团的问题。周三听证会结束后，各大电视台继续拒绝播出特朗普的画面，除非得到保证，CNN能够获准进入白宫记者团。

福克斯新闻、哥伦比亚广播公司和美国全国广播公司的记者都在场，但没有在马里兰州安德鲁斯联合基地拍摄视频，总统在那里正式欢迎了习近平。

根据三脚架和摄像机上的标志显示，其他到场的电视台还有 NewsNation、Newsmax、Right Side Broadcasting Network、One America News Network 和 LindellTV。