A US federal judge early yesterday temporarily blocked US President Donald Trump’s ban of three news outlets from the White House grounds, ordering that CNN, MS NOW and Politico must have their access restored. However, reporters for two of the outlets were denied entry hours after the ruling.
The back-and-forth is the latest in an extraordinary showdown between Trump and media outlets whose coverage he dislikes.
Trump first announced he was banning the outlets on Friday, assailing what he called “fake news,” and later saying that their reporting was a risk to national security. The outlets said in a joint lawsuit that the ban was a blatant free speech violation because it singled them out for the content of their coverage.
Photo: AP
In his late-night ruling, US District Judge Timothy Kelly ordered the White House to “immediately return, reinstate and restore” the three outlets’ access.
They had met the legal thresholds to obtain a temporary restraining order, in effect for 14 days, and were likely to succeed in showing that their press passes were revoked without due process, he said.
“This is a high bar, but plaintiffs have met it,” he wrote.
Kelly — whom Trump nominated in 2017 and who ordered a CNN journalist’s access restored in a similar case in 2018 — also said the government must have clear standards for conduct that would lead to revoking a press pass.
He called the standard of objectionable reporting outlined in letters that the White House sent the outlets “so vague it hardly does the trick.”
The judge also made clear he did not buy the administration’s argument that the news outlets’ reporting endangered national security, adding that Trump himself had not used that argument in the beginning, focusing solely on what he called negative coverage.
“Nothing in the record ... suggests that the revocation of plaintiffs’ hard passes was motivated by national security concerns,” he wrote.
The ruling came after Kelly heard arguments in an emergency hearing on Wednesday. Temporary restraining orders are typically designed to preserve the “status quo” pending a closer review of the case by the court.
However, a few hours after the ruling, a CNN reporter said she was denied entry to the White House compound. Politico said one of its reporters was also blocked.
The White House did not immediately respond to an e-mail requesting comment.
Attorney for the outlets Theodore Boutrous Jr argued in the hearing that there was an urgent need for renewed access, saying that the ban caused irreparable harm to the outlets at a time of momentous news events.
“We’re at war. We have world leaders coming to Washington,” he said.
SOFT TENNIS: Yu Kai-wen and Huang Shih-yuan narrowly defeated their Japanese rivals to capture Taiwan’s first gold at the Asian Games in Nagoya Yu Kai-wen (余凱文) and Huang Shih-yuan (黃詩媛) won Taiwan’s first gold of this year’s Asian Games, defeating a Japanese duo in a nail-biter in the soft tennis mixed doubles final in Nagoya, Japan, while Johnny Sun (孫家閎) won silver in wushu and Shih Cheng-chung (石政中) won bronze in men’s kumite. Yu and Huang narrowly defeated Japan’s Toshiki Uematsu and Rena Temma 5-4 (2-4, 5-3, 4-2, 1-4, 1-4, 4-0, 1-4, 4-1, 7-5) to give Taiwan its first gold in soft tennis mixed doubles at an Asian Games since 2018. Sun secured Taiwan’s first wushu medal at this year’s game, with a combined score
CALL FOR CHANGE: They urged the UN to facilitate Taiwan’s involvement in the body, recognize its peace efforts and to work with members in preventing military conflict Representatives to the UN from five of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies sent a joint letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday, calling for the country’s inclusion in the body. Allies in the letter sent ahead of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly General Debate made three demands in support of Taiwan: inclusion, recognition and camaraderie. They implored the UN to seek an appropriate way to facilitate Taiwan’s meaningful involvement in the world governing body, saying that UN Resolution 2758, which accepted the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as a member of the UN, does not exclude Taiwan. Beijing claims that the
AT-RISK GROUPS: Of the accumulated 1,586 severe cases and 304 related deaths in this flu season, 65.8% were older people and 83.2% had chronic diseases, an official said The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said that 165 severe flu cases and 30 flu-related deaths were reported last week, the highest weekly numbers in this flu season, and that cases might continue to increase, urging people to take precautions. Medical visits for flu-like illnesses increased by 1.4 percent to 141,374 last week, with 11.8 percent being emergency visits, showing that the seasonal flu is still in its epidemic period, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said. From Tuesday last week to Monday, 165 severe flu cases and 30 flu-related deaths were confirmed, the highest weekly numbers
Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC, 漢翔航空工業) has finished production of the nation’s T-5 Brave Eagle (勇鷹) advanced jet trainers, with the final aircraft scheduled to be formally delivered at a ceremony on Thursday. The delivery of the trainer jets marks the end of the program, which dates back to 2017, with the first prototypes completed in 2019. Fifty-six of the 66 trainers had been delivered as of May. The Brave Eagle was developed and produced by AIDC and the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology. The program has provided a foundation for the development of a domestically produced next-generation primary trainer and
RSS