A federal judge has extended a block on the White House's effort to sideline three news outlets from covering President Trump. US District Judge Timothy Kelly on Thursday extended his Sept. 24 temporary order restoring White House press credentials for CNN, Politico, and MS NOW for two more business days while he weighs a longer-term ruling expected by Tuesday at the latest, the Hill reports. The earlier order from Kelly, a Trump appointee, had been set to expire at midnight Thursday.
The White House says the ban is about national security and the use of unnamed sources. The outlets argue Trump's own comments about their critical coverage demonstrate that the ban is unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination. During Thursday's hearing, Kelly noted that Trump's own words contradicted the claim that national security concerns were behind the ban, saying efforts to defend the ban on those grounds would be an "uphill climb," Politico reports.
Theodore Boutrous, a lawyer for the news outlets, said a recent Time interview in which Trump complained about "bad story after bad story" from the outlets "amounts to a confession" that they were banned because he didn't like their coverage. Kelly has so far focused on due process, not the First Amendment. Even with access to the White House grounds restored, CNN and Politico say repeated blocks from Air Force One and White House broadcast pool duties are causing immediate harm, the Hill reports.
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