White House blocks Politico from Air Force One amid press access lawsuit

The White House is refusing to allow Politico on Air Force One on Monday, which means the news organization cannot fulfill its press corps pool responsibilities.

A Politico spokesperson confirmed that the publication was excluded from the out-of-town travel pool, a small group of reporters who travel with the president on trips.

President Donald Trump announced on September 18 that he was “banning” Politico, CNN and MS NOW from the White House, a move that legal experts called unconstitutional.

The news outlets filed a lawsuit on September 21 alleging the ban violates the First and Fifth Amendments. Judge Timothy J. Kelly sided with the plaintiffs and issued a temporary restraining order requiring the Trump administration to reinstate the journalists’ press badges.

Since then, however, the White House has repeatedly barred CNN from traveling on Air Force One on days when it has been CNN’s turn to be the TV pool representative. Now, on the day it was Politico’s turn to be the print pool representative, Politico has been barred as well.

The Trump administration appears to be justifying these new restrictions by saying that access to the White House complex is different than access to tight spaces like Air Force One. The Associated Press has an ongoing lawsuit over this distinction, since Trump tried to ban the wire service from certain spaces last year.

Monday’s action against Politico will likely be incorporated into the next legal filing by CNN, MS NOW and Politico. Judge Kelly is scheduled to hold a hearing on Thursday over the news outlets’ request for a preliminary injunction, which would protect press access to the White House for a longer period of time ahead of a potential trial.

“The law is absolutely clear. The harm to our clients, the First Amendment, and the public as a whole is profound,” the attorney for the three news outlets, Ted Boutrous, said in a statement. “It is critical that the White House is enjoined to keep this unconstitutional ban on the free press out of commission.”

Last week, when reporters from TIME asked if Trump was ignoring the court order, Trump said no, and then communications director Steven Cheung piped in: “The judge basically ordered them to renew their access back to the White House, but that’s different than allowing the pool into the events in the Oval Office or on Air Force One.”

Cheung did not respond to a request for comment on Monday about the action against Politico.

Trump is slated to travel to Nebraska for a campaign stop on Monday afternoon.

With Politico barred from the trip, the White House offered the publication’s seat to other news organizations that routinely take turns in the out-of-town travel pool, and several publications declined, sources with knowledge of the matter told CNN.

Unusually, the White House’s Sunday night guidance email to the press corps did not list any news outlets traveling with the president at all — perhaps a sign that Politico’s seat was proving hard to fill.

白宫拒绝让 Politico 记者周一登上空军一号，这意味着该新闻机构无法履行其记者团的职责。

Politico 的一位发言人证实，该媒体被排除在随总统出访的外地记者团之外，该记者团是由一小群记者组成。

9 月 18 日，唐纳德·特朗普总统宣布“禁止”Politico、CNN 和 MS NOW 进入白宫，法律专家称此举违宪。

9月21日，多家新闻媒体提起诉讼，指控该禁令违反了美国宪法第一修正案和第五修正案。法官蒂莫西·J·凯利支持原告的诉讼请求，并发布了临时限制令，要求特朗普政府恢复记者的记者证。

然而，自那以后，白宫多次禁止CNN在轮到其担任电视媒体联席记者团代表的日子乘坐空军一号。如今，在轮到Politico担任平面媒体联席记者团代表的日子里，Politico也被禁止登机。

特朗普政府似乎认为，进入白宫建筑群与进入空军一号等狭小空间不同，以此来为这些新限制辩护。美联社就此区别提起诉讼，因为特朗普去年曾试图禁止该通讯社进入某些区域。

周一针对Politico的诉讼很可能会被纳入CNN、MS NOW和Politico联合提交的下一份法律文件中。凯利法官定于周四举行听证会，审理这些新闻机构提出的初步禁令申请。该禁令旨在保护媒体在潜在审判前更长时间地进入白宫。

“法律条文非常明确。这对我们的客户、宪法第一修正案以及整个公众都造成了深远的损害，”三家新闻机构的律师泰德·布特罗斯在一份声明中表示。“至关重要的是，必须责令白宫停止这项违宪的新闻自由禁令。”

上周，《时代》杂志的记者问特朗普是否无视法院命令时，特朗普回答说没有，然后通讯主任史蒂文·张插话道：“法官基本上命令他们恢复进入白宫的权限，但这与允许媒体记者进入椭圆形办公室或空军一号上的活动是不同的。”

周一，对于针对 Politico 的诉讼，张先生没有回应置评请求。

特朗普计划于周一下午前往内布拉斯加州进行竞选活动。

据 CNN 报道，由于 Politico 被禁止参加此次旅行，白宫将该报的席位提供给了其他经常轮流参加外地旅行的新闻机构，但有几家媒体拒绝了。

不同寻常的是，白宫周日晚间发给新闻界的指导邮件中，根本没有列出任何随总统出行的媒体——这或许表明 Politico 的席位很难找到合适的人选。