White House Bars 3 Outlets After 1 a.m. Court Order Restored Access

Q: Why were reporters still locked out of the White House after a federal judge explicitly ordered their access restored?

They were still locked out because the White House had not fully carried out the judge’s order by Thursday morning, and it was unclear whether that was deliberate noncompliance, a lag in implementing the ruling, or a technical problem with reactivating the reporters’ hard passes. Judge Timothy Kelly’s order required officials to “immediately return, reinstate, and restore” the credentials for CNN, MS NOW and Politico while the case moves forward. But reporters from those outlets said some of them were still denied entry to the grounds hours later. Multiple accounts indicated the access system had not yet been fully updated, and some reporters were turned away even though the court had ruled in their favor. The underlying lawsuit arose after the administration revoked the outlets’ White House credentials without advance notice or a meaningful chance to respond. Kelly said that likely violated due process and also expressed skepticism about the administration’s national-security rationale, noting that the record mainly showed objections to the outlets’ reporting rather than specific security risks. So the immediate reason for the lockout was not that the judge’s order was unclear. It was that the order had not yet been fully implemented on the ground, whether because of delay, resistance, or credential-processing issues. Some access was later restored, but early Thursday compliance was incomplete.

3 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Sep 24

CNN, Politico and MS Now reporters were turned away from the White House on Thursday morning, and some had their press credentials confiscated despite a federal order hours earlier restoring access.
Judge Timothy Kelly issued that order around 1 a.m. Eastern, finding Trump's ban likely violated the outlets' constitutional due process rights and temporarily lifting the restrictions.
Lawyers for the three outlets sought an emergency hearing, arguing the White House repeatedly violated the ruling; some staffers were still admitted, leaving open whether the refusals reflected defiance or administrative lag.
The standoff disrupted coverage as Trump hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House, with the suspended TV pool threatening live access to a high-profile state visit.
Trump had initially justified the ban by accusing the outlets of spreading fake news, while the White House later cited national security and may still pursue further legal action.