CNN, MS NOW and Politico to sue over White House ban

CNN, MS NOW and Politico said on Monday they were ​suing the Trump administration to protect their first amendment rights after US president ‌Donald Trump’s ‌announcement ​that he would ban them from the ⁠White House’s ​building grounds.The three ​news outlets said they ‌had notified the government that ​they were filing their lawsuit ⁠in the ⁠US ​District Court for the District of Columbia and could see emergency hearings in the case as soon as this week, according to ‌CNN.Representatives for ⁠the White House did not immediately respond to a ‌request for comment outside normal business ​hours.The three media outlets said their journalists were denied access to the White House grounds on Saturday morning, a day after Trump said he would ban them from the executive branch complex.READ MOREMS Now said a reporter and a cameraman had been denied access and had their White House press passes confiscated by the US Secret Service at a security gate outside the West Wing. CNN reported that its reporter Betsy Klein was also denied access and had her press pass seized too.“The White House belongs to the American people and the decisions made inside are funded by our tax dollars,” MS Now said, adding that it “intends to take any and all steps necessary to defend our first amendment rights and the essential role of independent journalism in our democracy.“We stand firmly behind our anchors, our reporters and our newsroom. We will continue to report on the president, the administration and the issues that impact the American people.”Trump’s threat to banish CNN, MS Now and Politico from the White House has brought condemnation from first amendment advocates and Democratic officials, among others, as the conflict between the US president and parts of the media sharply escalates ahead of November’s midterm elections. It has also thrown into stark relief Trump’s attack on press freedom in the US, which has unnerved civil liberties advocates.n a Truth Social post on Friday afternoon, Trump said he would order the removal of the news outlets “effective immediately” for what he claimed was “constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS!” and said he is considering banning more. Trump did not identify a single infraction, but rather said his decision was “really just cumulative stories over the last two years. You get sick of it.”The White House Correspondents’ Association, which represents the White House press corps, condemned the move. “The constitution protects the freedom of the press from government interference,” it said on social media. “That protection does not depend on whether the president likes a news organisation’s coverage, agrees with its reporting or approves of the questions its journalists ask.”The body said the issue is “about more than the rights of journalists” but about “the right of the American people to receive a full and independent account of the activities, policies and decisions of whoever occupies the nation’s highest office”.Trump has long clashed with the media over what he considers slanted coverage of his administration and himself personally, as well as describing a media environment in which the press and his political opponents are in collusion.Last year the Associated Press was banned from the White House after refusing to acknowledge an executive order changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America.After Friday’s ban was announced, CNN issued a statement saying that removing its reporters from the grounds could violate the law. – Reuters/Guardian