Federal judge issues longer-term decision blocking Trump’s White House media ban – NBC News

Federal judge issues longer-term decision blocking Trump’s White House media ban  NBC News

A federal judge issued an order late Tuesday blocking the Trump administration from banning CNN, Politico and MS NOW from the White House complex while the organizations’ lawsuit over access proceeds. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly of Washington, D.C., issued the preliminary injunction in the wake of a hearing Thursday at which the administration contended it imposed the ban in part because of national security concerns; media organizations said it was because of “viewpoint discrimination.” Kelly sided with the news outlets, noting that Trump used national security as a reason for the ban after their press passes had already been revoked and ruling that it also likely violated reporters’ freedom of speech and due process rights.

“There is practically nothing national security-related in the record connected to the President’s decision to revoke Plaintiffs’ hard passes to which the Court can defer,” Kelly wrote in his 26-page opinion. His order will give the outlets access to the White House until the underlying lawsuit challenging the ban is resolved. But it doesn’t require the administration to allow reporters from the outlets access to the Oval Office or Air Force One — locations where the administration has blocked reporters from CNN and Politico in recent weeks. Kelly had issued a temporary restraining order lifting the ban while he weighed whether to issue an