The fight over who gets to question President Donald Trump on Air Force One has returned to federal court. Three major news organizations are challenging the White House’s restrictions on their reporting access. At stake is not simply entry to high-profile presidential appearances, but the boundaries between government control and press freedom.
CNN, MS NOW and Politico challenge exclusions from presidential press pools
Three news organizations, CNN, MS NOW and Politico, returned to court Wednesday, updating their lawsuit to challenge restrictions on reporters entering the Oval Office and Air Force One. They argue the limits violate their First Amendment protections. An earlier court order gave the outlets access to White House grounds, but their journalists still cannot enter either of the two presidential spaces (via The Washington Post).
The organizations’ attorney, Gibson Dunn partner Theodore J. Boutrous Jr. criticized the limits for keeping journalists away from key moments involving the president and the press. He warned that the restrictions “make it harder for the press to cover some of the most important events in the world” for Americans.
The White House rejects the argument that journalists have a constitutional entitlement to those locations. In a statement, a spokesperson said, “No person and no journalist has a constitutional right to access to the President’s Oval Office, Air Force One, or other sensitive and private facilities.”
The spokesperson also accused some publications of lying, fabricating information, and disregarding the truth, arguing that physical proximity would not improve their reporting. “Proximity matters less and they can write their fiction from outside of these secure facilities,” the spokesperson shared.
The court’s earlier ruling has not fully resolved the fight over press access. Although CNN, MS NOW and Politico can enter White House grounds, journalists from the outlets remain shut out of the Oval Office and presidential aircraft.
Their revised lawsuit seeks to overturn those restrictions. The legal challenge also builds on a warning Boutrous issued a week earlier, when he threatened additional action if CNN remained unable to send reporters aboard Air Force One.
