Federal Judge Orders Banned Media Outlets Immediately Regain White House Access, For Now

Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee, issued a TRO yesterday in CNN, Inc. v. Trump to restore the access of CNN, MS NOW, and Politico to the White House. As I previously explained, it was the only decision that he could make in light of controlling precedent. The White House…

— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) September 24, 2026

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Ted Boutrous Jr., the lead lawyer for the three outlets, alerted the judge in a filing Thursday morning that reporters from the outlets had been turned away and asked Kelly to hold “an immediate hearing” on the administration’s “non-compliance” with Kelly’s ruling. The judge ordered the Trump administration to respond to the allegation by 12:30 p.m. Eastern.

A Secret Service agent told the POLITICO reporter who had his “hard pass” confiscated Thursday morning that he was not cleared to enter but might be able to with a temporary day pass. The temporary passes are granted to journalists who do not hold what are known as “hard passes,” which grant permanent access to press facilities at the White House.

The reporter explained the court had ordered that POLITICO reporters be allowed to return to the White House and that he should be cleared to enter. The Secret Service agent replied that there was nothing he could do.

A spokesperson for POLITICO referred back to the outlet’s reporting on the judge’s decision.

CNN reported that some of its staff who arrived Thursday were denied access multiple times — including a CNN photojournalist and another reporter whose credentials were also taken away on Saturday, Betsy Klein. A CNN producer was able to use their pass to enter White House grounds, the outlet reported.

MS NOW White House correspondent Laura Barrón-López reported on air Thursday morning that she was similarly denied entry and had her badge confiscated. A Secret Service agent told her it was “still being disabled.”

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JUST IN: CNN and MS NOW reporters were DENIED White House access this morning — hours after Trump-appointed Judge Timothy Kelly ordered the administration to restore credentials for the three Fake News outlets.

CNN: “As of now, CNN's Betsy Cline and other CNN staff have not been… pic.twitter.com/eDOMeyzLjw

— RedWave Press (@RedWavePress) September 24, 2026

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MS NOW reports that their White House reproter was denied access to the White House this morning despite a court order demanding she have access pic.twitter.com/wqUiB413jV

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 24, 2026

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In his ruling, Kelly said the three outlets should have their access immediately restored from the ban that the president had announced on Sept. 18, rejecting a request by the Justice Department to delay it for at least two days. The judge was nominated by Trump to the federal bench in 2017.

Kelly said the Trump administration must return, reinstate and restore the White House “hard pass” press credentials held by employees of the three outlets that had been revoked. The temporary restraining order remains in effect for 14 days, with Kelly noting that such orders are “generally unappealable.”

“Simply put — the record lacks factual support for Defendants’ contention that the revocation of Plaintiffs’ hard passes will in fact protect national security or that national security will be endangered if the Court orders their passes reinstated while this litigation proceeds,” Kelly said.

In a Truth Social post last week, Trump said he was banning the outlets from the White House effective immediately, warning that other “Fake News Media Outlets” could follow. The president cited what he called “cumulative stories” by the three news organizations, adding, “You get sick of it.”

In his ruling, Kelly said the court declined “to stay” the temporary restraining order’s entry or effective date, as the defendants had requested.

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