Back in 2018, CNN sued Trump’s White House after it pulled correspondent Jim Acosta’s press pass. Attorney Theodore Olson told the court then that “Mr. Acosta’s press credentials must be restored so that all members of the press know they will remain free to ask tough questions.” Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders answered that the administration would “vigorously defend against this lawsuit.” A federal judge sided with CNN within days.
Eight years later, that same network is back in federal court, now joined by two others.
CNN, MS NOW, and Politico jointly announced Monday they’re suing the Trump administration over a ban that stripped all three of their White House access. Their statement opened with the legal basis for the fight. “This morning, we notified the government that we are filing a lawsuit today to protect our First Amendment rights and defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes,” they wrote.
They went further in the same statement, accusing the White House of skipping any real process. “Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists’ credentials because it objected to our reporting,” it read, warning that letting the move stand unchallenged “threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism.”
Joint statement from Politico, CNN, and MS NOW:
“We are filing a lawsuit today to protect our First Amendment rights…” https://t.co/M355lAqtpw
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) September 21, 2026
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According to CNBC’s reporting on the filing, the formal complaint goes further still: “This ban could not be a more direct assault on the First Amendment nor a more blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles.”
Trump, for his part, framed it very differently.
“The White House is not instituting an assault on the Free Press, something which I cherish,” he wrote on Truth Social. “It is instituting an assault on the FAKE NEWS, something that has grown like Cancer in our beloved United States of America.” He also added a new justification not included in his earlier announcement, calling it “a threat to our National Security, and must be stopped, NOW!”
“The White House is not instituting an assault on the Free Press, something which I cherish. It is instituting an assault on the FAKE NEWS, something that has grown like Cancer in our beloved United States of America…” – President Donald J. Trump pic.twitter.com/MVb0BHpGWZ
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 21, 2026
That line of thinking has stayed consistent in his public remarks.
Pressed on whether the move would hold up in court, Trump told reporters, “I don’t think a court should allow fake news to be written day after day after day.”
Legal experts see it differently.
Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, told NBC News the ban appears “pretty clearly unconstitutional,” and suggested any legal challenge would likely favor the outlets.
Politico, one of the organizations named, is pushing back on multiple fronts.
After Trump claimed the outlet had received an “illegal and ridiculous $8 Million Dollar subscription” from the federal government, Politico responded: it “will continue to fairly report on this White House and future ones” and will “vigorously defend our First Amendment rights against any attempt to restrict them.
Featured image via X screengrab
