CNN is warning that it may pursue additional legal action against the White House if its journalists remain barred from Air Force One and from the press pool that travels with President Donald Trump.
The network has been locked in a court fight with the Trump administration since the president abruptly banned CNN reporters from the White House grounds about a month ago, alongside journalists from MS NOW and Politico. Trump accused the outlets of producing “fake news.” Last week, a federal judge granted the organizations a preliminary injunction blocking the ban while their broader lawsuit proceeds.
That ruling, however, did not resolve every dispute between CNN and the administration.
The White House has continued to exclude CNN from television pool coverage of Trump’s trips aboard Air Force One. In a letter to Justice Department attorney Michael K. Velchik, CNN lawyer Theodore J. Boutrous Jr. said the network could be forced to return to court.
Media attorney says the spaces in question ‘belong to all Americans’
Boutrous wrote late Monday that CNN had enjoyed “uninterrupted access to the Oval Office and Air Force One for 45 years.” He argued that those locations are not the property of any one president or administration, but belong to the American public, with journalists serving as its representatives in covering the White House.
The attorney accused the White House of pursuing “what appears to be a new unstated policy to interfere with CNN’s ability to fulfill its duties” as a member of the video pool. The rotating pool includes the five major U.S. television networks — ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and Fox — which take turns covering presidential travel and share the resulting footage.
Boutrous also pointed to U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly’s latest ruling. Kelly determined that CNN, MS NOW and Politico were likely to prevail on claims that the White House had violated their First Amendment and due process rights, making them eligible for the preliminary relief they sought.
Despite that decision, Boutrous said, the White House had selectively refused CNN access to Air Force One at least four times.
Those actions, he wrote, amount to “efforts to retaliate and discriminate against CNN based on the content of its news coverage” and are “mistaken, counterproductive, and unlawful.”
“If these actions persist, CNN will have no choice but to return to the court to defend its rights, and it is prepared to fight as long as is necessary to secure them,” Boutrous wrote.
The Justice Department did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment. Boutrous’ letter gave the White House two days to reply.
The showdown began in September
The dispute between Trump and CNN — a network whose journalists and personalities he has repeatedly criticized in public — began more than a month ago. On Sept. 18, Trump announced that CNN, MS NOW and Politico reporters would be barred from the White House grounds. The following day, the journalists discovered that their access passes had been deactivated.
The move represented a significant escalation in Trump’s long-running campaign, through both lawsuits and administrative measures, to limit coverage he dislikes. It has also become a high-profile test of First Amendment protections in the United States.
Judge Kelly initially suspended the ban for two weeks before issuing an open-ended preliminary injunction last week.
Even so, CNN’s letter said the network was shut out of Air Force One in September during Trump’s trip to the U.N. General Assembly, his visit to Knoxville, Tennessee, for a football game, and a journey to Texas and Oklahoma. This month, CNN was again excluded during trips to Georgia and Florida. In each instance, CNN had been the designated pool network.
The White House has offered no explanation, Boutrous said. “In fact, the White House has not even directly stated to CNN that it is being excluded from the Oval Office or Air Force One.”