TV networks halt pool coverage of White House as CNN, MS NOW, Politico prepare to sue Trump

Major television networks will halt TV coverage of presidential events, according to a memo obtained by the Washington Post, over the White House’s ban of CNN — which was barred alongside MS NOW and Politico in recent days — while the three news organizations have said they’re suing the government, alleging violations of their constitutional rights.

“This is to advise that, effective today, the TV pool will not be covering events designated as pool coverage of the President,” Bryan Boughton, the Fox News Washington bureau chief and chairperson of the TV pool, wrote in a memo to the White House press corps that was obtained by the Post.

“This follows the White House’s position preventing CNN from fulfilling its assigned pool duties. There will be no replacement pool put in place. All other pool coverage will continue as normal, including Congress, VIPs, and selected events in Washington and around the country.”

In a joint statement Monday, the five members of the rotating TV pool wrote: “The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting.”

The banned outlets released a statement Monday saying they would be filing suit: “This morning, we notified the government that we are filing a lawsuit today to protect our First Amendment rights and defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes. Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists’ credentials because it objected to our reporting. Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference.”

The complaint, which was filed in federal district court in Washington, alleges violations of the news outlets’ First Amendment free press rights and Fifth Amendment due process rights. They are asking for an expedited hearing from a judge.

Trump said Friday he would ban MS NOW, CNN, and Politico from the White House, saying he disliked how they covered him. “They’re fake news,” he said. The following day, the organizations said that their journalists had been denied access to the White House grounds and that their press passes were confiscated.

Trump addressed the bans Monday in a post on Truth Social.

“The White House is not instituting an assault on the Free Press, something which I cherish,” he wrote. “It is instituting an assault on the FAKE NEWS, something that has grown like Cancer in our beloved United States of America. It is corrupt, purposeful, pervasive, fully coordinated, and totally out of control. It is a threat to our National Security, and must be stopped, NOW!” When asked for comment, the White House referred the Post to this post on Truth Social.

White House reporters for each of the outlets — MS NOW’s Akayla Gardner, CNN’s Betsy Klein, and Politico’s Cheyenne Haslett — are also plaintiffs in the suit. Trump, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, White House communications director Steven Cheung, and Secret Service Director Sean M. Curran are named as defendants in their government capacities.

The plaintiffs, represented by First Amendment lawyer Theodore J. Boutrous Jr., are asking a federal judge to strike down the ban as unconstitutional and restore the outlets’ access.

In a statement, Boutrous called the ban “a direct assault on the First Amendment and a blatant violation of due process” and said the law is on the plaintiffs’ side.

CNN, MS NOW, and Politico have received nearly unanimous support from fellow news organizations as well as press advocacy organizations in recent days. White House Correspondents’ Association President Jacqui Heinrich, a Fox News reporter, wrote in a statement Saturday that the bans violate the First Amendment and called upon the White House to restore the reporters’ access.

“The American people, through a free and independent press, must be able to scrutinize those elected to power, regardless of whether government officials view it favorably,” she said.

The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University said it plans to support the news outlets in court. Jameel Jaffer, the group’s executive director, said the bans constitute “an attack both on press freedom and the public’s right to independent information about the government.”

During his first administration, Trump banned CNN reporter Jim Acosta and later Playboy reporter Brian Karem from the White House, though both were allowed back after they sued the government. Those cases, along with a 1977 case involving Robert Sherrill of the Nation, were highlighted in the new complaint.

CNN’s ban in particular has created logistical hurdles for the news media. The network is one of five poolers — along with ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox News — that rotate primary responsibility of covering the president with television cameras. The White House removed the network from its schedule Monday, presumably leaving the president without designated TV cameras filming him during his trip to the United Nations in New York.

The pool is a way for the networks to split the hefty costs of following the president around with TV cameras. The assigned network records and distributes a live feed that other news outlets can use. Without a TV pooler, there will be scant video coverage of Trump unless news outlets take their own video or use feeds provided by the White House.

The Associated Press reported that Trump showed off his new White House helicopter landing pad on Monday, attempting to brush aside the First Amendment firestorm even as major television networks kept their cameras away in protest of CNN being banned from the grounds.

A light drizzle fell on the South Lawn as Trump used oversized gold scissors to cut a red, white and blue ribbon. He then exchanged handshakes with officials and with some members of a construction crew wearing green smocks and hardhats — seeking to portray business as usual.

If he had words to mark the occasion, however, it was impossible to hear them over the noise of his waiting helicopter. Normally, TV network crews work to capture clearer audio.

Trump also didn’t answer reporters’ shouted questions before climbing aboard Marine One for an eventual flight to New York. Instead, he wrote on his social media site, “We are just leaving the White House Lawn on the maiden voyage from the newly built, and very beautiful, Heliport!”

Trump has long crowed about how the new helipad — featuring extensive granite that he boasts will have a “million-year life,” as well as a large insignia reading the “Seal of the President of the United States” — would impress Chinese President Xi Jinping, who arrives Wednesday for a state visit.

He’s been focused on wowing Xi even as he decried Democrats as communists in an attempt to help Republicans retain control of Congress in upcoming midterm elections. But his effort to curb access for media outlets to the White House has overshadowed Trump’s pet building projects and Xi’s visit.

Igniting constitutional questions over media access also eclipsed the reason Trump was lifting off from the helipad — the annual trip to attend the United Nations General Assembly beginning today.