CNN, MS NOW and Politico filed a federal lawsuit Monday seeking restoration of their White House credentials as President Donald Trump argued that his administration is targeting what he calls “fake news,” not freedom of the press.

By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.

CNN, MS NOW and Politico filed a federal lawsuit Monday challenging President Donald Trump’s decision to bar their journalists from the White House, escalating a dispute over presidential press access into a First Amendment court fight.

The three news organizations filed their case in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and asked for a temporary restraining order that would restore their journalists’ access while litigation proceeds. They contend the administration revoked credentials because of objections to their coverage and did so without adequate notice or due process.

“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,” CNN, MS NOW and Politico said in a joint statement.

The organizations said their credentials were revoked “without notice or process” because the White House objected to their journalism. The lawsuit argues that selectively excluding news organizations because of their reporting amounts to unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.

Trump responded Monday by rejecting the characterization that his administration was attacking press freedom.

“The White House is not instituting an assault on the Free Press, something which I cherish,” Trump wrote Monday. “It is instituting an assault on the FAKE NEWS, something that has grown like Cancer in our beloved United States of America.”

Trump described reporting he considers false as “corrupt, purposeful, pervasive, fully coordinated, and totally out of control,” and said it represents “a threat to our National Security, and must be stopped, NOW!”

The president has not publicly provided evidence establishing that the three organizations coordinated false reporting or that their journalism constitutes a national security threat. Reuters reported that Trump’s Monday statement offered no substantiating evidence for that assertion.

The legal confrontation began after Trump announced Friday that CNN, MS NOW and Politico would be prohibited from the White House “effective immediately.” He accused the organizations of repeatedly publishing “FICTION and LIES” about him, his administration and the United States.

Speaking with reporters later Friday, Trump made clear that he intended the prohibition to extend broadly across White House access.

“I don’t want them in my office. I don’t want them here,” Trump said.

Asked how far the restriction would extend, he replied that it would go “as far as you can.”

Trump separately argued that although the country needs a free press, he believes news organizations should provide what he considers fair and truthful reporting. He said his decision resulted from what he described as a pattern of negative coverage over the previous two years.

The administration began enforcing the president’s directive Saturday. Journalists working for all three organizations were denied entry to White House grounds after their credentials were deactivated or confiscated.

The organizations subsequently signaled that they would challenge the decision in court, culminating in Monday’s joint lawsuit.

The case centers on the extent of the president’s authority to control access to White House facilities and whether access can be withdrawn from otherwise credentialed journalists because officials object to their reporting.

The dispute follows previous court battles over White House press credentials during both of Trump’s administrations.

In 2025, the Associated Press sued after the administration restricted its access to certain presidential events because the organization continued using the name Gulf of Mexico in its reporting while acknowledging Trump’s order renaming it the Gulf of America.

A federal district judge initially ruled that the government could not punish the AP based on its editorial choices. A divided federal appeals panel later allowed the administration to maintain restrictions involving limited-access settings such as the Oval Office and Air Force One while the litigation continued. The full appeals court subsequently declined to overturn that decision.

Trump also faced a White House credential dispute during his first administration involving CNN correspondent Jim Acosta.

The White House revoked Acosta’s press credential in 2018 following a confrontation at a presidential news conference. CNN sued, and a federal judge ordered the administration to temporarily restore the credential while finding that the government had not afforded Acosta sufficient due process. The White House subsequently returned his credential.

The current litigation goes further by challenging the exclusion of three entire news organizations rather than the suspension of a single correspondent.

CNN, MS NOW and Politico are seeking immediate restoration of access as the federal court considers their broader constitutional claims. The administration, meanwhile, maintains that the action is directed at journalism Trump regards as false rather than at the constitutional protection of a free press.

The disagreement now places before a federal judge competing claims over White House authority and First Amendment protections, with the news organizations arguing that presidential officials cannot condition press access on whether the administration approves of their coverage.

Original article