Reporters Committee says Trump White House ban is ‘flatly unconstitutional’
Officers confiscated the press credentials of reporters from CNN, MS NOW and Politico at the White House gate on Saturday, the first enforcement of President Donald Trump’s decision a day earlier to bar the three outlets from the complex over their coverage of his administration.
MS NOW reporter Akayla Gardner and a photographer attempted to enter the White House grounds Saturday morning but found their badges would not scan. “The officer asked me to hand over my badge. He said that it was disabled,” Gardner told the outlet. “I asked why I was not able to get inside. He said it was above him.” Gardner added that while her and her colleague’s badges were disabled, an MS NOW producer was still able to scan her badge to enter, though she was not given an explanation for the discrepancy.
CNN reporter Betsy Klein said a Secret Service agent told her badge had been deactivated. Politico reported that reporter Cheyenne Haslett was denied entry Saturday morning and that her Secret Service pass had been revoked. All three outlets have spoken out against the decision, accusing Trump of violating their constitutional rights to free speech and freedom of the press.
Trump announced the ban on Friday, accusing the three outlets of writing “fiction or lies” about his administration. In his announcement, Trump did not cite specific stories or reporting from the three outlets that prompted the move, but later said “it’s really just cumulative stories over the last few years.”
The president signaled the ban could expand. “There may be others to join them,” Trump said, though he did not give a directive banning additional outlets. When pressed by a reporter on what he meant, Trump responded: “Others to come in terms of fake news? Well, you know, the New York Times is fake news, the Washington Post is fake news.”
The targeted outlets issued public statements in response. An MS NOW spokesperson said in a statement that the White House “belongs to the American people and the decisions made inside are funded by our tax dollars.” The outlet said it “intends to take any and all steps necessary to defend our First Amendment rights and the essential role of independent journalism in our democracy.”
Politico Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Greenberger told staff in an internal email, shared in the outlet’s Playbook newsletter, that the company stands by its reporters and will “vigorously defend” their First Amendment rights. CNN said in a statement: “We have a right under the US Constitution to do our reporting without hindrance or interference from the government and this ban is an illegal assault on this fundamental right.”
Press-freedom organizations condemned the move. Bruce Brown, president of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, which provides legal services to media organizations, said the ban was “flatly unconstitutional.” Brown added: “The First Amendment is clear that once the White House invites in some journalists, it can’t ban others because it doesn’t like their reporting.” The Reporters Committee said it expected the ban to be struck down quickly by the courts. Several other press-freedom groups called the move illegal and unconstitutional as well.
The White House action is the latest in a series of moves by the Trump administration to target media outlets the president says are critical of him. The administration has filed legal actions against U.S. and international outlets including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the BBC. Some of those lawsuits have resulted in media organizations agreeing to pay multimillion-dollar settlements; Trump’s lawsuit against the BBC remains ongoing.
Additional reporting from Bernd Debusmann Jr and Max Matza.