Attorney Theodore Boutrous, who represented CNN, MS NOW and Politico in their First Amendment case against the Trump administration, said that legal victories on this scale are valuable in demonstrating the power of the press. He also warned that President Donald Trump’s efforts to delegitimize journalists pose a “dangerous problem.”
Federal Judge Timothy Kelly ruled in favor of the press Tuesday, barring the Trump administration from reinstating its ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico reporters’ access to the White House grounds.
The Trump-appointed judge ruled that the three outlets’ reporters must retain access while their lawsuit over the ban proceeds. He also found that the outlets are likely to succeed in arguing that the administration violated the First Amendment.
The Trump administration appealed the ruling Wednesday.
In his first interview since the ruling, Boutrous told MS NOW’s Nicolle Wallace on Wednesday’s “Deadline: White House” that he was “very gratified” by the ruling. He also noted that legal victories of this magnitude are valuable for informing the public about the inner workings of the Trump administration.
“What President Trump and the Trump administration are trying to do is really snuff out that fundamental First Amendment principle. And the harm that that does is that people don’t know what their government officials are doing,” the attorney said. “And it’s such a great tradition in our country that the White House opens itself up to reporters.”
The attorney also quoted Prof. Alexander Bickel, who described the back-and-forth between the press and government as an “unruly contest.”
“That’s democracy,” he said. “And what they [the Trump administration] are trying to do is really just eliminate that major feature.”
Wallace added that the attorney was “batting a thousand,” considering he has not lost a single one of these First Amendment cases. The MS NOW anchor also asked Boutrous what could be done to protect journalists, who face intense harassment and subpoenas served at their homes.
“These legal battles really do help because it allows us to explain, again, to the public what journalists are really doing. Where are these facts coming from and why do we care?” he said. “It is really, really a dangerous problem for President Trump to be delegitimizing journalists.”
The attorney also said Trump’s defense team must have known it had a weak legal case.
“He just went back to, you never write anything nice about me, I could cure cancer, and you still wouldn’t say anything nice about me. So he just really undercut them completely,” the lawyer added.
Watch the full exclusive interview on MS NOW above.
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