Reporters from CNN, MS NOW and Politico regained entry to the White House grounds around noon Thursday after initially being denied entry, despite a federal judge earlier in the day pausing a ban and ordering the immediate restoration of their access.
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The fast-moving legal spectacle – in which other major television news outlets boycotted the administration in solidarity – comes during a busy news week for the president. Chinese President Xi Jinping is in Washington for a two-day visit and state dinner, and world leaders gathered in New York City for the U.N. General Assembly.
Thursday’s developments started when U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly of the District of Columbia ruled in the early morning hours that the three banned outlets met the legal threshold to obtain a 14-day temporary restraining order on the president’s action, on the White House to “immediately return, reinstate, and restore” their access.
But as the day began, the organizations were still denied entry to the White House, leading the reporters who had their press credentials revoked on Sept. 19 to file an emergency request for an immediate hearing to address the continued ban. The filing submitted to the court said that Secret Service agents confiscated journalists’ hard passes from all three organizations and refused to return the credentials previously taken.
The judge gave the administration until 12:30 p.m. to explain. The White House blamed the confusion on administrative delays, and word soon emerged that the reporters were being readmitted.
How It Came to This
President Donald Trump has been clear about his dislike of media coverage, calling the outlets “fake news.” Trump claimed there was no specific coverage that led him to his decision, just a culmination of “unfair” coverage.
“They purposely write negative news, and they do that because they want to try and diminish the Republicans and a Republican administration,” Trump said on Sept. 18, before the ban was announced.
“White House access is a privilege – not a right,” Department of Justice lawyers wrote in a filing.
CNN, MS NOW and Politico filed a joint lawsuit against Trump on Monday, claiming their First Amendment rights had been violated. They felt singled out for their coverage and sought what was later granted – a temporary restraining order to allow for continued reporting.
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DOJ later argued in court papers that reporting from the organizations was a national security risk and that they spread false information. Attorneys presented White House letters that cited problematic coverage from each of the three news outlets, including a CNN story about a “top secret” bunker in the White House ballroom, an MS NOW report on an “alleged leak investigation” and a Politico report detailing funding for the ballroom and Secret Service security improvements.
What the Judge Said
The items DOJ cited in its filing did not convince the court. The judge questioned the department’s actual motivations, pointing out that the reporters who wrote those stories did not hold White House credentials.
Kelly, who was appointed by Trump in 2017, wrote that the plaintiffs are likely to succeed in showing that their hard passes were revoked without “constitutionally adequate due process” and that “injunction is in the public interest.”
“This is a high bar, but Plaintiffs have met it,” Kelly wrote in his ruling.
He that the court was “skeptical” that the Trump administration’s “interest in safeguarding national security is the actual motivation for, or is even advanced by, the revocation of Plaintiffs’ hard passes.” Kelly argued that there was a lack of evidence to explain how their reporting damaged national security.
What Happens Now
During the 14-day temporary order, Kelly said he would schedule the consideration of a motion for a preliminary injunction which would allow CNN, MS NOW and Politico access for a longer period of time.
The White House has not indicated what steps it might take after the judge’s ruling restoring access to the organizations, but in a previous case more limited in scope against The Associated Press, the administration continues to pursue its legal fight. Trump restricted the news organization’s access to limited places like the Oval Office and Air Force One in February 2025 when it declined to refer to the Gulf of Mexico by Trump’s chosen name, the Gulf of America. A federal judge sided with the AP in that case as well, but an appeals court allowed the restriction to continue until a ruling in the case is reached.
As a result of the more recent White House ban, the five major television networks, in solidarity with the three banned outlets, suspended their press pool coverage of the president until further notice.
While journalists were present, there was no live video at Joint Base Andrews, where the president welcomed Chinese President Xi on Wednesday. The networks indicated that they would not start up again until CNN is allowed to participate in the pool.
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So for now, the standoff remains unresolved.
