Judge Deals Trump A Brutal Blow On His Press Ban

Filed 44m ago · Via HuffPost · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

No Spam Polka

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Presidio of Monterey · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that CNN, Politico and MS NOW must regain access to the White House after Trump banned them last month, finding the outlets likely to win both their due process and First Amendment claims. Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee, found no evidence that national security concerns the administration cited in court actually factored into Trump's decision.

Trump had publicly said the ban stemmed from 'cumulative stories' he considered unfavorable, while DOJ lawyers later argued in court that reporting on his ballroom project and Iran war ammunition levels justified the ban on security grounds. Kelly called that justification unsupported by the record and said Trump's own statements pointed to dissatisfaction with negative coverage instead.

Despite Kelly's earlier temporary restraining order restoring press badges, the White House has kept restricting access in other ways, including blocking Politico reporters from Air Force One and a travel pool.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

When a judge the president himself appointed looks at the evidence and says there's nothing to it, that's not activist robbery, that's just somebody reading the paperwork. The administration argued national security in court and griped about bad press on social media, and those two stories don't rhyme. A fence you keep moving after the judge tells you to take it down isn't a misunderstanding, it's a habit.

Source: Read the original at HuffPost → Scored: No Spam Polka · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0