Three outlets file emergency lawsuit over White House ban
The Trump administration banned the Associated Press from multiple White House events in 2025 after the wire service refused to stop using the term “Gulf of Mexico” despite President Donald Trump’s effort to rename the body of water the “Gulf of America,” United Press International reported Monday.
The AP ban preceded credential revocations against CNN, MS Now and Politico announced Friday by Trump. On Monday, the three outlets filed an emergency lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking to restore their journalists’ credentials, arguing the revocations violated the First Amendment and constitutional due-process protections.
CNN, MS Now and Politico filed the emergency request jointly, saying in a statement that “the government should not be allowed to decide what the press reports.” “Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists’ credentials because it objected to our reporting,” the statement read. “Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference.”
The lawsuit said the ban threatened the Constitution’s due process.
Trump on Monday morning denied on Truth Social that the action was “an assault on the Free Press,” writing instead that “It is instituting an assault on the FAKE News, something that has grown like Cancer in our beloved United States of America.” He called the press “corrupt, purposeful, pervasive, fully coordinated and totally out of control” and said it was “a threat to our National Security, and must be stopped, NOW!”
The president had announced the ban Friday on Truth Social, effective immediately, citing allegations of “fake news.” “Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America,” he wrote at the time. “Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow,” he added.