White House restores access to media outlets banned by Trump after judge’s order

CNN and MS NOW reporters have been allowed back into the White House after they sought an emergency court order to restore their revoked press access.They accused the White House in a court filing of having “repeatedly violated” a judge’s ruling overturning President Donald Trump’s ban on three media outlets.CNN and MS NOW were granted access back into the White House after some of their staff were turned away on Thursday morning. The third outlet in the ban, Politico, has yet to say if its entry was restored.In the early hours, Judge Timothy Kelly ruled the ban on the outlets should be temporarily lifted because it “likely violated their constitutional due process rights”.Trump initially said he barred the outlets because of “fake news”. The White House later cited national security.It was unclear whether the refusal to admit some reporters on Thursday morning was because of an administrative lag as the White House potentially worked to comply with the judge’s order. The standoff limited some TV coverage as Trump welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping to the White House on Thursday morning ahead of a state dinner.CNN said some of their journalists were denied entry, including senior White House reporter Betsy Klein. But a producer was allowed to enter, the outlet reported.Politico said one of its reporters was denied access to the White House and had his press credentials confiscated.MS NOW reported that its White House reporter Laura Barrón-López and a producer were barred and had their passes taken, but another MS NOW producer was allowed in.The White House is yet to comment on the ruling, and lawyers acting for the president may take further legal action.Trump first announced last Friday he was barring CNN, MS Now and Politico from the White House, accusing them of writing “fiction or lies” about his administration. By Saturday morning, each outlet reported that they were denied entry to the White House grounds and that their press badges were confiscated. All three outlets spoke out against the ban, accusing the Trump administration of violating their constitutional rights. In a joint statement on Monday, they said they were pursuing legal action to “defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports”.TV networks including Fox News, NBC, CBS and ABC had suspended their televised coverage of the White House in solidarity. And more than 50 media organisations across the ideological spectrum filed an amicus brief in support of the lawsuit, including Fox News, the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal. There have been previous instances of administrations attempting to limit certain outlets’ access.The Obama administration tried to exclude Fox News from participating in a specific press pool interview with an administration official in 2009.But after objections from the other four networks in the pool, Fox News was allowed in.