CNN, MS NOW And Politico Amend Lawsuit To Challenge Trump Ban On Access To Air Force One And The Oval Office

CNN, Politico and MS NOW have filed an amended lawsuit against Donald Trump, this time challenging the White House‘s continued exclusion of the outlets from Air Force One and areas of the White House where other reporters have gained access. A judge ruled earlier this month that the White House cannot revoke the hard passes of dozens of reporters for the outlets, after Trump banned CNN, MS NOW and Politico from even entering the White House grounds. But the outlets have continued to be restricted from pool duties, in which smaller groups of reporters are ushered into the Oval Office for press availabilities or are assigned to travel with the president on Air Force One. Read the amended complaint from CNN, MS NOW and Politico. Watch on Deadline The outlets’ legal team wrote in the amended complaint that “these exclusions reflect an unstated policy to carry out the President’s directive to take his viewpoint-discriminatory and retaliatory ban ‘as far as you can.’ Indeed, the President has been explicit that he intends to limit access to the Oval Office to news organizations that cover him favorably, declaring hours after this action was filed that ‘publications that only write negatively . . . shouldn’t be allowed access to the most important Office anywhere in the World.'” In his ruling on Trump’s blanket ban on access to the White House grounds, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly concluded that the prohibition likely violated the media outlets’ due process and First Amendment rights. He initially granted a temporary restraining order and later a preliminary injunction. The administration is appealing his order. The news outlets claim that their exclusion from Air Force One and other areas also violates their due process rights and is retaliation for protected First Amendment activity. Theodore Boutrous Jr., representing the news organizations, said in a statement that despite the judge’s order, “the White House has continued to violate the First Amendment and due process by excluding these news organizations from areas such as the Oval Office and Air Force One — the very locations that the president most frequently engages with the press.” He added, “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.” A White House official responded to the amended lawsuit, saying, “No person and no journalist has a constitutional right to access to the President’s Oval Office, Air Force One, or other sensitive and private facilities. When publications lie, fabricate, and ignore the truth, proximity matters less and they can write their fiction from outside of these secure facilities.” Last year, a federal judge ruled in favor of the Associated Press after it challenged White House restrictions on its access to the Oval Office and other areas. The ban was put in place because the AP did not agree to switch its references to the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. An appeal is pending, but a panel of the D.C. Circuit ruled that the White House in the interim could continue to exclude the AP from areas like the Oval Office and Mar-A-Lago, even for content-based reasons. In the amended complaint, the news outlets make the case that spaces like Air Force One “renders it a non public forum.” Those are areas where, when access is allowed, the government cannot impose restricts based on viewpoint. “To be clear, Plaintiffs do not claim an unrestricted right to enter the Oval Office or travel aboard Air Force One,” the media outlets’ legal team wrote. “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.” They noted that since his second term began, Trump has held 121 press events on Air Force One and 138 in the Oval Office.