CNN, Politico and MS NOW sue the Trump administration over ban on White House coverage - NBC News

CNN, Politico and MS NOW have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration after President Trump banned the three outlets from covering the White House, escalating a clash over press freedom.
Trump announced the ban Friday on Truth Social, accusing the outlets of "constant 'reporting' FAKE NEWS!", though several high-level White House aides were reportedly caught off guard by the decision.
On Saturday, MS NOW's Akayla Gardner, CNN's Betsy Klein and Politico's Cheyenne Haslett were denied access to the White House, with Klein and Haslett having their press credentials confiscated; workspaces used by CNN and MS NOW sat empty.
In solidarity, other TV networks refused to provide pool coverage of the president's Monday activities, since CNN was barred from performing that shared role of distributing footage and audio to other outlets.
The absence of a television pool had immediate effects: at a ribbon-cutting for a new White House helipad, Trump could not be heard because pool cameras and microphones were not present, a gap noted even by conservative outlet Newsmax.
First Amendment experts and the White House Correspondents' Association condemned the turning away of credentialed journalists as unconstitutional, while confusion among staff was partly attributed to chief of staff Susie Wiles being absent when the ban was announced.