By Waylon Cunningham
Sept 19 (Reuters) – The White House on Saturday denied access to journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico, following through with US President Donald Trump’s announcement that he would ban them from the building’s grounds.
All three news outlets separately said their teams’ press passes were confiscated on Saturday morning when their journalists went to the White House. They have signaled that they may contest the ban on the grounds that it conflicts with the US Constitution’s First Amendment protections for free speech and a free press.
A CNN statement on Saturday called the ban “an illegal assault” on its constitutional right to do journalism without interference from the government. In separate statements, MS NOW and Politico said they would “defend our First Amendment rights.”
MS NOW said 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.”
CNN and MS NOW said they would continue reporting on the Trump administration, and Politico said it stands by its reporters covering the White House.
A social media post by Trump on Friday accused the outlets of “reporting FAKE NEWS” and said that they “shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States.”
He added, “Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow.”
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday, Trump answered a question about what he meant by other outlets by describing the New York Times and the Washington Post as examples of “fake news,” although he did not specifically say he would ban them from the White House.
The New York Times in a statement called Trump’s latest ban “yet another retaliatory and unconstitutional threat” and said the newspaper “stands in support of the news organizations being unfairly targeted by the president.”
The Washington Post in a statement on Saturday said its access to the White House is a “non-negotiable constitutional right,” and called the president’s actions “a clear form of intimidation meant to silence coverage.”
Trump previously has tried to keep certain news outlets or specific journalists out of press gatherings.
Last year he banned the Associated Press from the pool of reporters that cover his movements because the news agency did not adopt Trump’s preferred name for the Gulf of Mexico after the president instructed the executive branch to call it the Gulf of America. AP has challenged the ban.
In his first term, Trump’s White House sought to revoke or suspend the credentials of Playboy correspondent Brian Karem and CNN’s Jim Acosta, but federal judges ordered their White House press passes restored.
(Reporting by Waylon Cunningham; Editing by Sergio Non, Chizu Nomiyama and Paul Simao)
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