US Justice Department approves barring media from White House under Trump

The U.S. Department of Justice concluded on Tuesday that it was permissible to bar the White House press corps from CNN, MSNBC, and Politico from covering events at the presidential residence, at the request of President Donald Trump, ahead of a court hearing.

The three leading media outlets turned to the courts after Trump issued an order on Friday banning them from the White House complex as punishment for publishing what he described as “fake news.”

Court documents indicated that messages explaining the president’s reasons for the ban were sent to these media outlets on Tuesday, giving them until Friday to file objections.

According to the documents, the letters cited numerous “media incidents” committed by these outlets that “threatened national security and spread misinformation.”

The letter addressed to CNN referred to a report on Trump’s plans to build a shelter under the ballroom in the East Wing, which he was constructing, which “revealed highly classified construction details,” as well as several other reports on the war with Iran, according to the network.

Reporters from CNN, MSNBC (formerly MSNBC), and Politico were barred from entering the White House grounds on Saturday, and their press credentials were confiscated.

In a show of solidarity with the three outlets, the other four networks participating in the White House press pool covering presidential activities—CBS, ABC, NBC, and Fox—decided to suspend their coverage at the White House, according to a statement reviewed by Agence France-Presse.

Photographers from several media organizations, including Agence France-Presse, also expressed their solidarity with the three outlets.

In their lawsuit, the three media outlets requested a temporary restraining order against the ban, arguing that it violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees freedom of the press.

The outlets stated in their court filing that “this ban constitutes a direct assault on the First Amendment and a blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles.”

Trump told reporters covering his visit to the United Nations General Assembly earlier this week, “I’m surprised that CNN is here covering me. You shouldn’t be here.”

However, this ban comes at a time when the U.S. president’s approval ratings have hit record lows, his Republican Party faces the risk of losing control of Congress in the midterm elections in November, and an endless war in the Middle East looms on the horizon.