‘UNLAWFUL RETALIATION’

Banned Networks Turn Up Heat on Trump in Free Speech Fight

CNN, MS NOW and Politico cite continued “viewpoint discrimination” by the Trump administration.

Media outlets banned from the White House have escalated their lawsuit against Donald Trump after he tried to ban them from the grounds last month.

In an updated filing with Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump nominee, CNN, MS NOW, and Politico have asked for the immediate restoration of their access to the White House press pool, which often covers the president in the Oval Office and on Air Force One. The suit states that the president’s ban is an ”unlawful retaliation for protected First Amendment activity.”

The networks’ original lawsuit challenged the White House ban on journalists’ access to the complex. Earlier this month, Judge Kelly ruled against the White House, ordering it to restore journalists’ credentials to enter the premises. But Kelly did not order the White House to allow the affected reporters back into the press pool while the case proceeds.

In the updated lawsuit, the networks say the White House is excluding them from certain spaces because Trump does not like their coverage, while he welcomes others. This is illegal viewpoint-based discrimination, they argue.

“To be clear,” the expanded lawsuit states, the outlets “do not claim an unrestricted right to enter the Oval Office or travel aboard Air Force One. But once the White House opens those spaces to selected journalists for newsgathering and reporting, the White House may not exclude plaintiffs because it dislikes their coverage.”

It goes on: “The court should declare unlawful the President’s ban of plaintiffs and the White House’s further unconstitutional actions, including its continued exclusions of plaintiffs from specific White House press areas for retaliatory and viewpoint-discriminatory reasons, and enter permanent injunctive relief in favor of CNN, MS NOW, and Politico.”

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Since Trump, 80, banned the networks from the press pool on Sept. 18, the White House has barred CNN from Air Force One six times when it was supposed to be the TV pooler.

MS NOW “has not participated in the secondary television pool since September 18,” the lawsuit states.

Politico, meanwhile, has been barred twice from out-of-town pool assignments.

One of the networks’ lawyers, Ted Boutrous, said in a statement on Wednesday that the White House continues to violate the First Amendment.

“These exclusions, intended to punish and chill coverage of the administration that the President doesn’t like, make it harder for the press to cover some of the most important events in the world for the benefit of the American people,” Boutrous told CNN. “CNN, MS NOW and Politico will continue to fight to vindicate their rights to report the news.”

When reached for comment, a White House official told the Daily Beast, “The Fake News has no place demanding a spot in the President’s Oval Office.”

This person added: “The lies they smear are a disservice to the American public and tear at the very fabric of our Democracy. They’re completely capable of reporting from directly outside. We intend to appeal this misguided decision.”

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