Donald Trump announced Friday on Truth Social that CNN, MS NOW, and Politico are banned from the White House, effective immediately. Trump said media outlets should not be able to report "fiction and lies" about the president of the United States. Trump gave no legal basis for the order.
Saturday morning, the ban became physical. Secret Service agents turned reporters away at the northwest gate. CNN Senior White House Reporter Betsy Klein tried to enter the grounds and was stopped. Guards confiscated her press credentials as she left the booth. MS NOW’s Akayla Gardner and Politico’s Cheyenne Haslett arrived separately and were also denied. Both found their credentials had been deactivated overnight.
The White House Correspondents’ Association called it "a ban on the free press." WHCA President Jacqui Heinrich — a Fox News White House correspondent — said the revocation of press passes violates the First Amendment and demanded the administration restore access immediately.
Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, called the ban "pretty clearly unconstitutional." The White House press pool is a "public forum" under the First Amendment, Jaffer argued, and the president cannot exclude journalists on the basis of viewpoint. Jaffer described the action as "doubly unconstitutional" because it targets specific outlets for their coverage, and predicted a legal challenge would succeed.
