CNN, MS NOW, and Politico are suing the Trump administration over White House access

CNN, MSNBC, and Politico announced on Monday that they have notified President Donald Trump's administration of their intention to file a lawsuit regarding denied access to the White House. The three news organizations made the announcement in a joint statement on X, two days after their reporters were blocked from the White House and unable to carry out their reporting duties.

Their entry badges were disabled on Saturday, the day following Trump's sudden announcement of barring the outlets due to reporting he deemed as "fake news." The White House declined to provide a comment on the matter early Monday. These actions represent a significant escalation in Trump's ongoing attempts, both in the courts and through administrative measures, to curtail news coverage by journalists he disapproves of, marking the latest test of First Amendment protections in the United States.

White House reporters from CNN and MSNBC, Betsy Klein and Akayla Gardner respectively, went live to report their exclusion upon arrival for work at the White House. Subsequently, Politico revealed that its White House reporter, Cheyenne Haslett, had also been denied entry and had her badge taken away. "Today, we notified the government that we are filing a lawsuit to protect our First Amendment rights and defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes," the outlets stated in their joint statement posted early Monday on X. "Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists' credentials because it objected to our reporting.

If left unchecked, this threatens press freedom and the public's right to independent journalism free from government interference." During his second term, Trump and his Republican administration have intensified their actions against certain media outlets, both in legal proceedings and through regulatory means. Trump has also targeted individual reporters directly or via social media, sometimes using highly personal language - criticizing them during briefings or in his recent speech at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner.

The WHCA's president, Jacqui Heinrich, urged the Trump administration to immediately restore the three outlets' access. "The implications extend beyond these organizations: a standard used to exclude one news outlet because of its coverage could be applied to any outlet in the future," Heinrich said. "The American people, through a free and independent press, must be able to scrutinize those elected to power, regardless of whether government officials view it favorably."