CNN, MSNOW and Politico Sue Trump Administration Over White House Press Ban in First Amendment Case

CNN, MSNOW and Politico filed an emergency First Amendment lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington on September 21, 2026, seeking to restore their journalists' White House access after President Donald Trump banned all three outlets in recent days. The suit asks a federal judge to act immediately to revive the outlets' press credentials and is expected to go before the court as soon as this week.

Trump announced the ban, saying it was "effective immediately" and citing what he called "cumulative stories" from the three organizations, adding, "You get sick of it." The outlets' press passes were confiscated after the ban was put in place. In a joint statement, the three news organizations called the action "a direct assault on the First Amendment" and said they were fighting "the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes."

The press ban also drew a solidarity response from the White House TV pool, which declined to cover Trump following the exclusion of CNN and the other outlets. The legal action echoes prior clashes between Trump and the press, including a 2018 lawsuit by CNN over the revocation of correspondent Jim Acosta's credentials, which a Trump-appointed judge resolved in CNN's favor on due process grounds, and a 2025 legal battle over the exclusion of The Associated Press from the press pool, a case that remains ongoing.