A federal judge on Thursday extended a restraining order blocking President Donald Trump from banning several media outlets from the White House press pool.
Trump sought to bar CNN, MS Now, and Politico from the press pool last month, accusing them of “fake news” reporting. The ban triggered a lawsuit by the three outlets alleging violations of their First Amendment rights. While the Justice Department sought to justify Trump’s ban based on national security concerns, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly issued an order temporarily reinstating the outlets’ access as the case plays out in court.
As the order was set to expire Thursday evening, Kelly announced during a hearing earlier in the day that he would extend it for another “two business days,” before another ruling on the case is expected by Tuesday.
The judge, who was appointed by Trump, said he is still weighing a longer-term extension of his ruling blocking aspects of the president’s press restrictions at the White House.
Kelly questioned the Justice Department’s effort to defend the ban on national security grounds, pointing to Trump’s language when he enacted the policy that credited his decision to the disapproval of the outlets.
Kelly said it was “unusual” that “the decision maker seems to have said … I am taking this action because ‘x’ and ‘y’,” and now the government is saying, “it’s ‘z’.”
“It just seems like that fact pattern is a hard one to find,” the judge said.
TRUMP BANS CNN, MS NOW, AND POLITICO FROM WHITE HOUSE
When pressed last month on whether he could win this battle against the media outlets, Trump said, “We’ll see.”
“I think it’s good to point it out, whether it survives or doesn’t,” the president said. “I mean, I don’t think a court should allow — depends on the judge you get to be honest with you — I don’t think that a court should allow fake news to be written day after day after day. I think that somebody has a right to keep them away if they’re going to write false stories all the time.”