WSJ details Trump second-term press actions against outlets

First Amendment attorneys call actions coordinated intimidation

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that during President Trump’s second term his administration has filed defamation suits against multiple news organizations — including the Journal itself — barred Associated Press journalists from the Oval Office, issued subpoenas to reporters, and curtailed press access at the Pentagon.

The Pentagon last year imposed strict rules limiting news gathering, prompting several major outlets to surrender their credentials rather than comply, according to the Journal.

First Amendment attorneys and media executives have characterized the administration’s actions as a coordinated effort to intimidate news outlets and discourage confidential sources from speaking out, the Journal reported.

The Journal’s reporting came as U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee, ordered the administration to temporarily restore White House press passes for journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico, finding that the removal of their credentials was likely done without “constitutionally adequate due process.”

“The ‘general rule’ is that ‘individuals must receive notice and an opportunity to be heard before the Government deprives them’ of a constitutionally protected interest,” Kelly wrote in the ruling issued early Thursday.

CNN, MS NOW and Politico filed suit Monday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., seeking a temporary restraining order that would force the administration to reinstate the passes while the litigation proceeds. The news organizations said they were acting to “protect our First Amendment rights and defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes.”

The Journal characterized the suit as an escalation of tensions between the press and the Trump administration, which has during the president’s second term often sought to target news organizations over their coverage.

Representatives for CNN, MS NOW and Politico said their journalists were turned away from White House grounds early Saturday. The following day, CNN reporters were removed from a scheduled pool coverage assignment at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, according to the Journal.