Federal Judge Orders White House to RESTORE Access to Fake News Outlets

Federal Judge Timothy Kelly ordered the Trump administration to reinstate CNN, MS NOW and Politico's access to the White House after they were banned from the premises by President Donald Trump. https://t.co/b44SxbAsNm pic.twitter.com/K2bpriZU1d

— CNN (@CNN) September 24, 2026

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BREAKING: A federal judge blocked President Trump’s White House ban on CNN, MS NOW, and Politico, ordering the administration to immediately restore the outlets’ press credentials.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly issued a temporary restraining order requiring officials to…

— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 24, 2026

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BREAKING: A federal judge blocked President Trump’s White House ban on CNN, MS NOW, and Politico, ordering the administration to immediately restore the outlets’ press credentials.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly issued a temporary restraining order requiring officials to “immediately return, reinstate, and restore” the hard passes while the legal fight continues.

The order remains in effect for 14 days. Trump announced the ban last week after accusing the three outlets of reporting “fiction and lies.”

Read what the Justice Department argued in defense of Trump’s ban and what happens next:

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U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly issued a temporary restraining order Thursday blocking the ban and ordering White House officials to “immediately return, reinstate, and restore” the outlets’ hard-pass press credentials while their legal battle continues. The order will be in effect for 14 days.

Kelly wrote that the outlets had shown they were likely to succeed on their claim that their White House “hard passes were revoked without constitutionally adequate due process.”

“This is a high bar, but Plaintiffs have met it,” Kelly wrote of the standard for obtaining a temporary restraining order.

Kelly also rejected, at least for now, the administration’s national security justification, writing that “the record lacks factual support” for the contention that revoking the passes protected national security or that restoring them would endanger it.

Trump announced the ban last week, writing on social media that the three outlets “shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES.”

Reporters from all three organizations were subsequently denied entry to the White House, with their press credentials deactivated or confiscated.

The outlets and three individual reporters sued the administration, alleging the revocation of their White House press credentials violated their First Amendment free speech rights and Fifth Amendment due process rights.

Lawyers for the Justice Department argued that White House press access is a privilege, not a right, and defended the president’s authority to determine who receives access.

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Reporters whose White House access was revoked after President Trump barred CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the grounds were allowed to enter the complex again Thursday, hours after a federal judge ordered senior Trump administration officials to restore their press credentials.

Footage from MS NOW and CNN showed their reporters regaining access to the White House and broadcasting from inside the gates hours after U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly issued his order granting the outlets temporary relief. Politico also reported its reporter was allowed to reenter the grounds.

Journalists from all three outlets were initially denied entry earlier Thursday morning, which prompted their attorneys to ask the court for an “immediate” hearing. The lawyers said top White House officials had “repeatedly violated” Kelly’s order by continuing to turn away journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico. They began getting back onto the complex around noon. The judge eventually said a hearing wasn’t needed since the reporters’ press passes were restored.

In a sworn declaration with the court that became public soon after the journalists began trickling back in, director of White House press operations Micah Stopperich said his office was notified at 7:10 a.m. to restore access to reporters impacted by the ban and started that process 15 minutes later. Secret Service then indicated at 9:07 a.m. that the press badges for those journalists were reactivated, and the credentials that had been confiscated were delivered to White House Operations staff at 9:45 a.m.

The reporters’ badges were then left at the designated White House entry gate for members of the press just before 10 a.m, and Secret Service said those press passes could be picked up “as soon as they were delivered,” Stopperich said.

The standoff over the banned outlets coincided with Mr. Trump welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping to the White House for a state visit, complete with elaborate ceremonies that were not broadcast by major U.S. television networks. The outlets had suspended most coverage of White House events in solidarity with CNN, which is a part of the five-member collaborative television “pool” that documents the president’s activities.

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At 1am ET, a judge ordered the Trump admin to restore White House access to CNN, MS NOW and Politico. As of 9am, CNN correspondent @betsy_klein has still not been allowed back to her workspace at the WH. "It appears that the White House may be in defiance of this court order…" pic.twitter.com/D0JjjiA2tY

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) September 24, 2026

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