WASHINGTON – President Trump said on Friday that he would ban CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, although it was unclear how such a prohibition would be enforced or legally defended.
The president’s abrupt proclamation, which he said was “effective immediately,” came in a post on Truth Social, the social media platform he owns.
Journalists from those news outlets were still working as usual on the White House grounds on Friday afternoon, and there were no immediate signs that they were being evicted. The White House did not immediately respond to an inquiry seeking clarification about the president’s remarks.
Representatives of the three news organizations mentioned by Mr. Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment. An inquiry to the White House Correspondents’ Association was not immediately returned.
A prospective ban would open yet another front in Mr. Trump’s ever-expanding battles with the news media, whose output he has increasingly attempted to control using 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 his post on Friday, Mr. Trump wrote that his move was “a result of their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS!,” repeating one of his most common complaints about independent news outlets. He also warned that he might add other organizations to his prospective ban, writing, “Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow.”
Mr. Trump has tried to bar some news organizations from parts of the White House in the past. During his 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.
His 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; now, the administration handpicks the news outlets that are included.
Jameel Jaffer, the executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said that the ban floated by Mr. Trump on Friday would be a clear violation of the First Amendment.
“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.
