President Trump to Defend Ban of Media Outlets in Court Hearing

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration will defend its decision to ban CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House at a federal court hearing today, arguing that access to the White House is a privilege and that the outlets’ reporting raised national security concerns.

The three news organizations — which are openly liberal and have consistently produced coverage that has been widely criticized as biased — sued the administration Monday. They allege that the ban violates the First Amendment by restricting access based on the content of their coverage. They are asking the court to immediately restore their access.

The ban was announced Friday, and reporters for the three outlets found their White House access credentials disabled the following day.

In a court filing Tuesday, administration lawyers argued that the ban does not violate the First Amendment because the White House has the authority to determine which news organizations receive access. The filing cited reporting that it said involved sensitive or classified information and accused the outlets of failing to meet expected standards of professionalism and decorum.

In general, much of the country’s mainstream media has faced backlash for failing to take a neutral stance and largely favoring Democrats over Republicans.

The dispute has prompted other media organizations to respond. A television network press pool suspended coverage of Trump events after CNN was barred. The Associated Press and other organizations also withheld some coverage in solidarity with the banned outlets.