CNN, MS NOW and Politico make final written effort to convince judge to maintain White House access

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Lawyers for CNN, MS NOW and Politico said Monday that the White House had offered no new evidence to support their repeated claims that the news outlets’ reporting endangered national security.

The argument, made in a court filing late Monday, is the companies’ final written effort to convince federal Judge Timothy Kelly to indefinitely maintain White House access for CNN, MS NOW and Politico journalists after President Donald Trump revoked their credentialed press access last month.

“At every turn since, Defendants have sought to justify the President’s ‘ban on the free press’ with a series of shifting rationales, lurching from unarticulated standards of professionalism to nebulous and pretextual concerns about protecting national security,” the filing reads.

“But all the while, the President himself has continued telling anyone who will listen precisely what this ban is really about, most recently complaining at length in an interview with Time magazine that he banned Plaintiffs because he feels that he should not ‘be forced to bear’ what he considers ‘constantly bad stories.’”

Kelly will hold a hearing Thursday on the news outlets’ request for a preliminary injunction, which, if granted, would last for a longer period of time while the case plays out.

In late September, Trump announced he was barring the three outlets from covering him at the White House, citing their “negative stories.” CNN, MS NOW quickly sued, and won back temporary access.

In his ruling, Kelly said the White House must follow five decades of DC court precedent, which bars the White House from revoking journalists’ press access without first giving them notice and a chance to respond.

This story is breaking and will be updated.

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

CNN、MS NOW 和 Politico 的律师周一表示，白宫没有提供任何新的证据来支持他们反复声称这些新闻媒体的报道危及国家安全的说法。

这份于周一晚些时候提交给法院的文件是这些公司为说服联邦法官蒂莫西·凯利无限期地维持 CNN、MS NOW 和 Politico 记者进入白宫的资格而做出的最后书面努力。此前，唐纳德·特朗普总统上个月撤销了他们的媒体采访资格。

“自那以后，被告人不断变换理由，试图为总统‘禁止新闻自由’的行为辩护，从含糊不清的职业操守标准摇摆不定，到模糊不清、以保护国家安全为借口的担忧，”起诉书写道。

“但与此同时，总统本人一直在向所有愿意倾听的人详细解释这项禁令的真正含义，最近在接受《时代》杂志采访时，他详细抱怨说，他禁止原告是因为他觉得自己不应该‘被迫忍受’他认为‘不断出现的糟糕报道’。”

凯利将于周四举行听证会，审议新闻媒体提出的初步禁令申请。如果获得批准，禁令将在案件审理期间持续更长时间。

9月下旬，特朗普宣布禁止这三家媒体在白宫对他进行报道，理由是它们发布了“负面报道”。CNN和MS NOW迅速提起诉讼，并赢得了暂时的采访许可。

凯利法官在裁决中表示，白宫必须遵守华盛顿特区法院五十年来的先例，该先例禁止白宫在未事先通知记者并给予其回应机会的情况下撤销记者的采访权限。

这是突发新闻，我们将持续更新。