Judge Kelly cited lack of factual support for national security rationale
The White House initially denied reporters from MS NOW, Politico, and CNN entry Thursday morning despite the federal court order, before eventually restoring access for all three organizations later in the day. It was initially unclear whether Politico had been readmitted, but CNBC reported that all three organizations had been given access to the White House.
The three news organizations were originally barred from the White House on Saturday, September 19, after Trump wrote on Truth Social that the outlets would be banned from the building. The outlets sued the following Monday under First and Fifth Amendment protections.
Late Wednesday night, Judge Kelly granted an emergency order demanding that the White House restore the credentials and access for at least two weeks. A further hearing will follow.
When the reporters and producers arrived at the White House Thursday morning following the ruling, they were still denied access. The news organizations then requested an emergency hearing on the matter. Kelly ordered the Department of Justice to respond by 12:30 p.m. EDT to a new court filing notifying him of non-compliance with the temporary restraining order against the president’s ban.
The White House gave no reason for denying the journalists access Thursday morning.
In his Wednesday ruling, Kelly wrote that “Plaintiffs [the news outlets] are likely to succeed in showing that their hard passes were revoked without constitutionally adequate due process.”
Trump and his lawyers had argued that the journalists were removed for national security reasons, but Kelly rejected that rationale.
“Simply put — the record lacks factual support for Defendants’ contention that the revocation of Plaintiffs’ hard passes will in fact protect national security or that national security will be endangered if the Court orders their passes reinstated while this litigation proceeds,” Kelly wrote. “Defendants offer no declarations or other support — classified or unclassified — explaining how any of the reporting they identified in their letters to Plaintiffs damaged the national security.”
MS NOW’s Laura Barrón-López described her own reentry on the air: “I was just allowed back into the White House through the northwest gate. They first cleared me through that outer perimeter, and then I arrived at the northwest gate, showed my government ID again, and was returned my badge.”
The outlets’ lawyer, Ted Boutrous, told CNN: “This is a strong ruling vindicating freedom of the press, due process and the rule of law. We greatly appreciate the court’s swift action.”
The five major television networks have stopped their regular pool duties since the ban began, including coverage of Trump’s trip to the United Nations General Assembly in New York. It was not yet clear whether they would resume pool coverage.