President Trump on Friday opened a new front in his ever-expanding battles with the news media, abruptly announcing a ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, even as it remained unclear how his prohibition would be enforced.
“There’s something wrong with a country that can allow people to write purposely negative stories,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, shortly after he announced his ban, “effective immediately,” in a post on Truth Social.
“Now, if they want to write them, that’s fine, but I don’t have to let them into my — into the people’s house,” the president added.
What Mr. Trump’s ban would mean in practice was not clear. The president’s remarks were vague — “I don’t want them in my office; I don’t want them here,” he said — and his aides did not immediately provide clarity. Journalists from those news outlets were working as usual on the White House grounds on Friday, and there were no signs of an imminent eviction.
Mr. Trump’s announcement was met with instant condemnation from many First Amendment groups, which called it unconstitutional. CNN and Politico both suggested they could mount challenges in court.
The White House Correspondents’ Association said in a statement that constitutional protections for the press do “not depend on whether the president likes a news organization’s coverage, agrees with its reporting, or approves of the questions its journalists ask.”
Presidents back to George Washington have complained about their press coverage, but Mr. Trump has increasingly attempted to control news outlets with a variety of bureaucratic levers and intimidation tactics. The president has filed lawsuits and used government tools like subpoenas to target newspapers, late-night talk show hosts, corporate media conglomerates and journalists whose reporting he dislikes.
In the Oval Office on Friday, Mr. Trump said he announced a ban “because they’re fake news.” He added, “You get sick of it.”
“If they could straighten themselves out, I’d love it,” he added.
Asked if his ban could survive a court challenge, Mr. Trump replied, “I don’t think that a court should allow fake news to be written day after day after day.”
Politico said in a statement that it would “vigorously defend our First Amendment rights,” and CNN called Mr. Trump’s ban “an illegal assault.”
“We have a right under the U.S. Constitution to do that reporting without hindrance or interference from the government,” said Emily Kuhn, a spokeswoman for CNN. A spokesman for MS NOW declined to comment.
In his post, Mr. Trump warned that he might add other organizations to his prospective ban, writing, “Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow.”
Mr. Trump expanded on those feelings at his Oval Office appearance, echoing the usual grievances that he unspools at rallies, news conferences and in interviews. “They purposely write negative news,” the president said. “And they do that because they want to try and diminish the Republicans and a Republican administration.”
Any prospective ban on journalists from specific news outlets would almost certainly prompt a legal challenge.
During Mr. Trump’s first term, he revoked a White House pass for Jim Acosta, the former CNN journalist. CNN succeeded in restoring Mr. Acosta’s press credentials in court.
This term, Mr. Trump has attempted to bar Associated Press journalists from parts of the White House, including the Oval Office and Air Force One. The A.P. has sued to restore its access, but that case remains in litigation; in the meantime, A.P. photographers have had continued access to the Oval Office. Its print journalists have had more limited access.
The Trump administration has also taken command of the daily White House press pool, a small, rotating group of reporters who relay the president’s daily activities to the public. Previously, the correspondents’ association chose which outlets participated.
In the Oval Office on Friday, Kelly O’Donnell, a White House correspondent at NBC News, said to Mr. Trump that every president takes an oath to uphold the Constitution, which includes the First Amendment, before asking how he justified this ban.
“I do, too,” Mr. Trump said of upholding the Constitution. “Much more so than you.” He then said he was banning the outlets “because they’re fake news.”
Jameel Jaffer, the executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said that the ban floated by Mr. Trump on Friday is clearly unconstitutional because it would punish news organizations for the content of their reporting.
“If President Trump means to expel these news organizations from the White House press pool, his action is doubly unconstitutional because the press pool is a ‘public forum’ under the First Amendment, which means the president can’t exclude journalists from it on the basis of their viewpoints,” Mr. Jaffer said.
Tim Richardson, the journalism and disinformation director at PEN America, put it bluntly: “Someone needs to explain to President Trump how the First Amendment works.”
Zolan Kanno-Youngs contributed reporting from Washington.
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