CNN, Politico and MS NOW Say White House Turned Them Away Despite Judge's Order

Judge Tim Kelly called Trump's ban likely unconstitutional and ordered passes returned at once; one correspondent says her badge was seized.

The White House turned away reporters from CNN, Politico and MS NOW on Thursday, hours after a federal judge ordered them back in, the outlets said.

The three newsrooms described the lockout in their own reports on the morning of September 24, 2026, as the Guardian laid out in its live coverage. It landed on a busy day inside the gates. President Trump was hosting Chinese President Xi Jinping for a state visit, with talks expected to cover trade, artificial intelligence and Taiwan.

Outside, the CNN and MS NOW broadcast tents sat dark and empty at dawn.

The order came late Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Tim Kelly found that Trump's ban on the three outlets was likely unconstitutional, the Guardian reported, and told the administration to give back their press passes immediately.

In plain terms, Kelly issued a temporary restraining order, a short-term emergency ruling that lasts 14 days. It's meant to hold things where they stood before the ban, with the reporters doing their usual work at the White House, while the court takes a closer look at the lawsuit.

By Thursday morning, that wasn't what happened at the gate.

Politico said one of its reporters was stopped on his way in to work and had his credentials taken from him. CNN said reporter Betsy Klein and a photojournalist were refused entry in the 6 a.m. hour and weren't told why, though one of its producers did get inside using a pass. The Associated Press separately reported that a CNN journalist told it she'd been kept out.

At MS NOW, White House correspondent Laura Barrón-López said a Secret Service officer told her that her credentials were showing up as disabled when he scanned them. "Then he confiscated my badge, and I had to leave the premises," she said.

She said she couldn't tell whether she was looking at deliberate defiance of the court or "incompetence or a lag in the system."

By a little after 9 a.m. Eastern, all three outlets said they were still locked out, the Guardian reported.

Trump hadn't publicly addressed the ruling as of Thursday morning, according to the Guardian. He did post about the networks. His first mention of them that day waved off an MS NOW report that he wanted Ford's Theatre in Washington renamed after himself, calling it "FAKE NEWS started by MSDNC AND CNN."

In court, the administration's lawyers argued the ban was the president's call. A Justice Department filing on Tuesday said getting into the White House is a privilege the outlets aren't entitled to, and that the president has the power to suspend it. Government lawyers also cited national security, and one told Kelly that letters mailed to the outlets on Tuesday explained the revocations well enough. Kelly sounded doubtful, noting those letters went out only after the passes were pulled and the suit was filed.

Trump announced the ban in a social media post on September 18, writing that the three outlets "shouldn't be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES." The outlets sued Trump and other administration officials in federal court in Washington on Monday, September 21, arguing the ban violates the First Amendment's protections for free speech and a free press, along with their right to due process.

Kelly hasn't ruled on the merits of that case. What he decided is narrower: the ban is likely unconstitutional, which was enough for him to order it lifted for now.

CNN said it would keep trying to get its staff through the gate throughout Thursday. Kelly's order holds for 14 days from Wednesday night, into the first week of October.

Source: theguardian.com, retrieved September 24, 2026.