By Helen Coster
NEW YORK, Sept 22 (Reuters) – As CNN, MS NOW and Politico await a Wednesday court hearing over President Donald Trump’s decision to ban them from the White House grounds, reporters from the news outlets covered his visit to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday using media passes issued by the UN.
“I’m surprised that CNN is here covering me, you shouldn’t be here,” Trump said on Tuesday as he entered the United Nations building and addressed a group of reporters. “You said you weren’t going to cover me.”
CNN has not said it would stop covering Trump.
Trump announced the ban on Friday on social media, saying the three news outlets “shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States,” and defended it in another post on Monday.
The news outlets sued Trump and other members of his administration on Monday, saying the action violated the US Constitution’s First Amendment protections for free speech and a free press. They are seeking a temporary restraining order to block Trump’s action in federal court in Washington, D.C., with a hearing scheduled for Wednesday before US District Judge Timothy Kelly.
Later on Tuesday, Trump was asked by reporters in New York whether he would let the media outlets back into the White House if the court rules against the ban.
Trump said that “this is a judge who’s not a particularly fair judge.” Trump added, “But I’m talking about national security. I think we have a right to clean out fake news.”
Trump appointed Kelly to the bench in 2017 during his first term as president. Kelly ruled against Trump in 2018 in a case involving a CNN journalist who sued after his White House press pass was revoked.
BATTLES WITH THE PRESS
Past presidents have battled with the press, but Trump’s campaign against the media has been unprecedented. He has upended decades of tradition by denying basic access to many major news organizations, launching personal attacks on journalists for their reporting and elevating media outlets seen as more sympathetic to the administration. He also has filed lawsuits against multiple news outlets.
CNN is one of the five news organizations – along with ABC, CBS, Fox News and NBC – that make up the primary White House television pool. They share the costs of covering the president, take turns organizing coverage and share the footage with outlets around the country.
CNN had been scheduled to cover Trump’s trip to New York for the United Nations General Assembly on Monday, but was not able to provide a pool feed. In response, the other major TV networks suspended presidential pool coverage.
In an effort to fill that void, the White House launched a “Trump TV” stream on Monday. The White House said the stream will run videos and highlights of what it calls the Trump administration’s achievements. A press freedom advocate said it amounted to “a steady diet of government propaganda.”
During an interview on NBC’s “Today” show on Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not answer a question about whether he will be making changes to his traveling press pool.
When asked whether media outlets should be banned because the president does not like their coverage, Rubio repeated a sentiment expressed by Vice President JD Vance a day earlier, falsely stating that the outlets were not banned, when they have in fact lost access to the White House grounds.
“They’re not banned. … We’re not closing CNN. … They’re just not allowed to work from the workspace at the White House,” Rubio said.
(Reporting by Helen Coster in New York; Additional reporting by Bo Erickson in Washington and Gram Slattery in New York; Editing by Will Dunham and Paul Thomasch)
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