CNN, MS NOW and Politico asked a federal judge Thursday for an immediate hearing, alleging White House officials have repeatedly violated his order to restore their journalists’ press credentials.
In a request for immediate hearing filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, lawyers for the news organizations asked the court to convene by videoconference or teleconference as soon as possible Thursday morning.
The request came hours after U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly issued a temporary restraining order directing the defendants, except President Donald Trump, to immediately restore the White House “hard pass” credentials of the outlets’ employees.
Alleged Violations
According to the filing, journalists from each of the three outlets tried to enter the White House on Thursday morning and were turned away. The plaintiffs also allege that Secret Service agents confiscated hard passes from journalists whose credentials had not previously been taken.
Plaintiff Betsy Klein’s hard pass was confiscated on Saturday, Sept. 19, the filing states. When she asked Thursday for the pass to be returned, her request was denied and she was refused access to the White House complex, according to the plaintiffs.
The outlets argued that “time is of the essence.” CNN is scheduled to serve as the television pool Thursday evening for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the White House, the filing says.
The allegations come from the plaintiffs’ filing and have not been independently verified.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs wrote that they contacted the defendants’ counsel Thursday morning and asked to call the court together. The defendants’ counsel had not responded, according to the filing.
The request was signed by Theodore J. Boutrous Jr. of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, one of several lawyers from the firm listed as counsel for the plaintiffs.
Background
The dispute began on the afternoon of Sept. 18, when Trump announced in a post on Truth Social that he was “banning” CNN, MS NOW and Politico “from the White House,” effective immediately. The news organizations allege their reporters were then denied access and had their hard passes deactivated.
The three outlets and three individual reporters sued the president and several White House officials. In granting their motion, Kelly found the plaintiffs likely to succeed at least on their claim that the passes were revoked without the due process required by the Fifth Amendment.
The judge relied on two appeals court decisions, Sherrill v. Knight and Karem v. Trump, which held that a reporter’s interest in a White House press pass is protected by due process. According to the order, the defendants did not dispute that the plaintiffs received no notice or chance to be heard before the revocations.
The defendants argued that the outlets’ reporting had endangered national security. Kelly wrote that he was skeptical, on the current record, that national security was the actual motivation for the revocations, noting that Trump’s announcement focused instead on the alleged lack of truthfulness and negativity of the outlets’ reporting.
Kelly also found that the defendants offered no declarations explaining how any of the reporting cited in their Sept. 22 letters to the plaintiffs damaged national security.
The judge declined the defendants’ request to stay his order. The restraining order remains in effect for 14 days while the court sets expedited briefing on a motion for a preliminary injunction, and the plaintiffs must post a $1 bond by Oct. 1.
Editor’s Note: AI assisted with research, organization and initial drafting. Virginia Times verified the information and is responsible for the final story.
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