Last week the Trump administration banned CNN, MS Now and Politico from having access to the White House. But on Thursday, reporters from those media companies were allowed on White House grounds just hours after a judge reinstated them.
By Catholics for Catholics
Three news outlets that were barred from covering the White House were reinstated by a federal judge who ordered the Trump administration to permit access to them Thursday.
Last week the Trump administration banned CNN, MS Now and Politico from having access to the White House. But on Thursday, reporters from those media companies were allowed on White House grounds just hours after a judge reinstated them, according to a story by Newsmax.
Also Thursday, the news outlets had asked in a court filing for an immediate hearing to address their inability to access the White House grounds earlier in the day. The filing said a Secret Service agent had confiscated the journalists’ credentials.
“This is a strong ruling vindicating freedom of the press, due process and the rule of law,” Theodore Boutrous Jr., attorney for the outlets, said in an emailed statement. “We greatly appreciate the court’s swift action.”
But Michael Velchik, the attorney for the Justice Department, countered that the administration’s point was that the president has the right to choose who gets into the White House.
“Access to the White House is a privilege, not a right,” Velchik said.
.@VP: "They can still report on the Trump White House. They can still get the public reports. They can still, of course, talk to people in the Administration and outside the Administration. What @POTUS said is we're not going to give you special access inside the White House." https://t.co/ilCnbRPR1O pic.twitter.com/3MA3OLeSIr
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) September 21, 2026
In contending that Trump was not taking part in viewpoint discrimination — the government choosing specific media outlets for the content of what they say or publish — Velchik said the president had condemned other news organizations, but not banned them. He noted, for example, that Trump had called ABC “the worst.”
He added: “The president should be able to take immediate action to protect national security.”
In his late-night ruling to temporarily strike down the ban, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly commanded the White House to “immediately return, reinstate, and restore” the three outlets’ access.
Kelly said they had met the legal bases to get a temporary restraining order, in effect for 14 days, and were likely to succeed in showing that their press passes were revoked without due process.
“This is a high bar, but Plaintiffs have met it,” he wrote.
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