Journalists from MS NOW, CNN and Politico were denied access to the White House grounds on Saturday, one day after President Donald Trump said he is banning the three outlets over their coverage of him.
White House reporter Akayla Gardner said MS NOW journalists were blocked from the grounds for the first time Saturday morning.
“Yesterday our journalists were able to stay here working on the White House grounds,” she said. “This was the first action we know of them actually denying us entry into the White House.”
“The White House belongs to the American people and the decisions made inside are funded by our tax dollars,” MS NOW said in a statement. “MS NOW intends to take any and all steps necessary to defend our First Amendment rights and the essential role of independent journalism in our democracy.”
MS NOW said it will “continue to report on the President, the administration, and the issues that impact the American people.”
CNN reported later Saturday that its journalists were denied access to the White House.
“CNN’s mission to report on the U.S. government will continue regardless of any attempts to restrict physical access to the White House and other government buildings, or any other attempts to impede our journalism,” CNN said in a statement. “We have a right under the U.S. Constitution to do our reporting without hindrance or interference from the government and this ban is an illegal assault under that right.”
The news organization reiterated it “stands fully behind our White House team.”
Politico’s editor-in-chief, Jonathan Greenberger, emailed the newsroom: “A few minutes ago, our colleague Cheyenne Haslett attempted to enter the White House to do her job as a POLITICO reporter. Secret Service denied her entry to the complex and confiscated the pass that allows her access to the White House. We stand by her and all reporters here covering the White House. As we said yesterday, we will vigorously defend our First Amendment rights.”
When asked to respond, the White House referred CNBC to the president’s comments yesterday.
On Friday, Trump said in a Truth Social post that those outlets “shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America.”
“Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow,” he added.
Later that day, in the Oval Office, the president said he was imposing the ban in response to “cumulative stories” by the three outlets.
“You get sick of it,” he said.
In 2018, Trump’s White House briefly tried to suspend a CNN reporter’s press pass, and it is currently being sued over an attempted ban of Associated Press journalists from certain spaces.
The AP said on Saturday that it supports the banned media outlets. “No news organization — or person — should be retaliated against by the government over the words they use,” it said in a statement.
The White House Correspondents’ Association called on the Trump administration to immediately restore the journalists’ access, saying the action violates the First Amendment.
“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,” WHCA president Jacqui Heinrich said in a statement. “That’s why courts have repeatedly held that once the White House provides access to journalists, it cannot deny that access arbitrarily or based on the content of their reporting.”
Trump said Friday that the effort to bar news outlets is worthwhile, even if it does not hold up in court.
“I think it’s good to point it out whether it survives or doesn’t,” Trump said.
Arthur Spitzer, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, told CNBC that Trump’s move to ban what the president himself has called “the free press” is likely unconstitutional.
“He’s plainly discriminating against them because they don’t like the way they report the news, and the government isn’t supposed to do that,” Spitzer said, referring to Trump. “Certainly, our view is the president cannot control, or try to control, the news by banning outlets from official events because he doesn’t like the way they’re reporting on him.”
Spitzer represents the ACLU in a case related to Trump’s ban of AP journalists from certain government spaces, including the Oval Office and Air Force One.
— CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger and Dan Mangan contributed to this report.
Disclosure: CNBC and MS NOW are divisions of Versant Media.