CNN, MS NOW and Politico file lawsuit against Trump's White House ban

Here is the latest breaking news from around the world: CNN, MS NOW and Politico file lawsuit against Trump's White House ban Figure caption, Watch: Trump answered a question about the ban at an event with New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Monday afternoonByAlicia Curry and Bernd Debusmann, White House reporterPublished21 September 2026Updated 13 minutes agoCNN, Politico and MS NOW have said they will sue the Trump administration after the three US media outlets were barred from the White House. President Donald Trump announced the ban on Friday, accusing the organisations of writing "fiction or lies" about his team. The companies said their reporters were denied access to the building on Saturday.

In a joint statement on Monday, they said they were pursuing legal action to "defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports". Major US TV networks later announced they would suspend their White House pooled coverage of Trump, leaving a potential gap as he heads to New York for the United Nations General Assembly. Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, A journalist from MS NOW broadcasts from a street corner outside the White House groundsTrump later reacted to news of the lawsuit, calling the news organisations "Third Rate Clowns" and "Crooked and Corrupt Press" that "trivialise and demean" his achievements.

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"Fake News people and publications that only write negatively, and who violate our National Security by writing false and defamatory stories with unknown 'sources,' shouldn't be allowed access to the most important Office anywhere in the World," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. He added that "almost without question" his team will file an appeal. The First Amendment forbids the government from "abridging" the freedom of the press - language that courts have traditionally interpreted as preventing the government from discriminating against the media based on the content of their coverage.

The statement from CNN, Politico and MS NOW said: "Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists' credentials because it objected to our reporting. "Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public's right to independent journalism free from government interference. "The media organisations filed the lawsuit on Monday in US District Court in Washington, asking a judge to quickly rule Trump's ban unconstitutional and prevent his aides from enforcing it.

On Monday morning, major US TV networks pulled out of White House pool duties, which sees media organisations share material with each other to save on costs and space when broadcasting presidential events to the American public. Fox News Washington bureau chief Bryan Boughton, who currently holds a rotating role helping to organise media TV crews covering the White House, wrote in an email seen by the that "effective today, the TV pool will not be covering designated as pool coverage" of President Trump.

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.