Donald Trump appears no closer than before to receiving a court’s permission to ban CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House press pool.
On Thursday morning, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly held a hearing to determine whether to grant a preliminary injunction blocking Trump’s ban of the media coalition. Judge Kelly, a Trump appointee, previously granted a temporary restraining order reinstating the credentials of the banned reporters.
During a Substack Live, Glenn Kirschner and I discussed why the judge is likely to rule in favor of press freedom once again. The initial ruling fell on Fifth Amendment due process grounds, and the Trump White House has provided shape-shifting explanations for why press credentials were revoked. Then, the White House press office invented a post-hoc administrative process to challenge revocation decisions, which the media outlets described as a “sham.” Judge Kelly extended his existing TRO by two business days, and he indicated that he would issue a ruling by Tuesday.
In the video at the top of this newsletter, we discussed the arguments made by the media coalition’s lawyer Ted Boutrous, the Trump Justice Department’s “Mein Kampf”-praising attorney Michael Velchik, and the administration’s reliance on increasingly strained invocations of national security. We also unpacked the significance of a decision unsealing the more than 160-page report outlining the plan for the Kennedy Center’s two-year closure for a $250 million renovation.
Watch the full video at the top of this newsletter.
