CNN, MS NOW and Politico sued the Trump administration on Monday, seeking to overturn President Donald Trump's ban on the three outlets from White House grounds. The complaint was filed in federal court in Washington, DC, later on Monday.
In a joint statement, the outlets said the White House revoked their journalists' credentials without notice or process because it objected to their reporting. The suit alleges the ban violates both the First Amendment and the Constitution's due process protections, and a draft of the lawsuit called it "a more direct assault on the First Amendment" than any the outlets could imagine.
The outlets will ask a judge for a temporary restraining order blocking further enforcement of the ban and requiring the immediate return of their reporters' hard pass credentials. The emergency request could bring hearings and arguments from the administration as soon as this week.
Along with Trump, the defendants are communications director Steven Cheung, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and Secret Service Director Sean Curran. The plaintiffs include three White House reporters, Akayla Gardner of MS NOW, Betsy Klein of CNN and Politico's Cheyenne Haslett, who were all turned away on Saturday and had their hard passes taken by a Secret Service officer, according to the suit.
Trump announced the ban on Truth Social on Friday, accusing the outlets of constantly reporting fake news. He also warned that other outlets would follow. According to NBC News, the move surprised a number of White House aides, and none of the current and former senior staff NBC spoke with knew about the plan in advance.
The dispute spread to the wider press corps on Monday. CNN was removed from pool coverage duties it had been scheduled to handle, including travel with the president to New York. In response, ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox and NBC said in a joint statement that they had suspended TV pool coverage of Trump.
Vice President JD Vance defended the decision. He argued the ban was not an attack on free speech because the outlets could still report on Trump, access public information and speak with administration officials, saying the president's message was "we're not going to give you special access inside the White House".
This is not the first such fight. During Trump's first term, a Trump-appointed federal judge temporarily restored the press access of CNN's Jim Acosta, ruling the White House had violated his due process rights. In 2025, the White House briefly barred The Associated Press from the press pool, a legal battle that is still ongoing.
