Fight over Trump’s media ban heads to court

The battle over President Trump ’s ban of three media outlets from the White House is turning to the legal system starting today with a hearing on whether the move is constitutional.

Trump has already said he expects to lose when the case goes before U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly , whom Trump appointed during his first term. He reiterated Tuesday that he is bracing for a loss “because this is a judge who is not a particularly fair judge,” but declined to say whether he would comply with the judge’s order.

“I think we have a right to clean out fake news,” he told reporters during one of many meetings at the UN General Assembly.

Kelly was the judge who presided over the case in 2018 in which Trump revoked White House press credentials from Jim Acosta , then a CNN correspondent. Kelly ruled in favor of Acosta, directing that his credentials be returned while the legal battle played out. The White House eventually reversed its decision and restored Acosta’s pass.

Ahead of the hearing, the Department of Justice (DOJ) argued in a court filing late Tuesday that the ban shouldn’t be blocked. The filing cites national security concerns and alleges that the outlets “failed to meet basic minimum ‘standards or professionalism and decorum.’”

“After all, access to the White House is a privilege—not a right,” the filing argues.

If Kelly were to rule in favor of the news outlets, an appeal would be almost certain to quickly follow. A favorable ruling could mean outlets quickly regain access to the White House, effectively ending a standoff that has left with White House without a television press pool.

The major television networks that rotate covering the president are all continuing to sit out the pool, which takes turns recording Trump’s every public move, in solidarity with the three banned outlets. The impacts of their decision were on display Monday when Trump was inaudible while speaking at a ribbon-cutting ceremony unveiling the new helipad on the South Lawn of the White House.

“This is one example of it backfiring just a little bit,” a Newsmax anchor remarked.

The White House launched a 24/7 stream on YouTube called Trump TV following the ban.

At today’s hearing, the outlets are expected to argue the ban violates their First Amendment rights. The Hill’s Dominick Mastrangelo reports most media and legal observers expect the organizations to succeed and their journalists to soon be back on White House grounds.

Still, the battle marks the biggest confrontation yet in years of brawls between the Trump administration and the media.

Trump didn’t cite national security when he first announced the bans, saying he made the decision because of the “constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS.” He also has signaled other outlets or journalists could soon be banned too.

The administration faced off with The Associated Press last year after the wire service refused to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America,” in line with an executive order the president issued. The White House limited AP journalists’ access to Air Force One and the Oval Office and kicked the outlet out of the press pool in response.

A federal judge initially sided with AP, but an appeals court largely overturned the ruling. The case is still ongoing, but the AP has regained normal access in the meantime.

The hearing Wednesday is scheduled for 3:30 p.m., and a ruling could come at that point or soon afterward.

You can read more this morning about what to expect in the case from The Hill newsletter The Gavel , which covers the biggest stories in the legal world each week. Click here to sign up to get the newsletter in your inbox.

▪ CNN : Press ban prompts widespread solidarity, fewer images of Trump.

▪ The Hill : Vice President Vance , Mehmet Oz chuckle about press ban at fraud event.

▪ The Hill : Trump tells Kaitlan Collins ‘you shouldn’t be here’ at U.N.

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Washington today for his first visit to the U.S. capital in 10 years. Trump is expected to greet him on the tarmac when the Chinese leader lands at Joint Base Andrews for his U.S. state visit. The high-stakes talks are expected to get underway tomorrow.

Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan declined an appeal from a surrogate to intervene in a custody fight over a child that has drawn national attention to parental and abortion rights. The surrogate unsuccessfully sought to have a parental judgement in favor of the couple in a California court lifted.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) endorsed Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed after weeks of withholding her support for the Democratic nominee. Nessel said despite her disagreements with El-Sayed, there is “no choice” in supporting him over Republican nominee Mike Rogers.

President Trump speaks to the United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 22, 2026, at the UN headquarters. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Associated Press)

TRUMP’S BIG DECISION : Trump threatened to “annihilate” Iran, in remarks before the United Nations General Assembly yesterday, but he still left open the possibility of striking a deal with the country.

“I have a big decision to make,” Trump said in his speech. “Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before, maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world? Or do I annihilate the Islamic republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again?”

The president later said U.S. officials had a three-hour meeting with Iranians on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, describing it as a “very productive meeting” with another scheduled in the “very near future.”

“They had a very good meeting, and we’ll see how it turns out,” Trump said. “But, certainly, it’s to their advantage to make a deal.”

Also on the sidelines of the summit, Trump signed a trilateral security agreement with Greenland and Denmark that gives the U.S. permanent military rights in Greenland. Trump announced during his speech that the U.S. will “immediately begin” development of two “very major military bases” on the Arctic island.

Trump also held a series of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the forum, including with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Venezuelan leader Delcy Rodríguez .

Trump said he supports a ban on diesel exports, when asked during his bilat with Zelensky whether such a proposal was under consideration, saying, “I’ve called for it within my people. I’ve been talking about it.”

“We’re examining that, whether it’s feasible in terms of the overall refining capacity and whether a full or partial ban would work,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent added, when prompted by Trump to expound on the issue.

The U.S. president also held his first in-person meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham , whom Trump praised as a “natural businessperson.”

▪ The Hill : 5 takeaways from Trump’s whirlwind day at UN General Assembly.

▪ The Hill : Trump says AI will be renamed ‘super intelligence’ in all US documents.

▪ The Hill : Melania Trump announces new Fostering the Future Together push.

TRUMP JR. ON THE SPOT: Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) is asking Senate Judiciary Committee leaders to subpoena Donald Trump Jr. and Hunter Biden and launch investigations into the “use of presidential family relationships” for financial benefit, preferential treatment or access by domestic or foreign interests.

“The country should not have to accept one standard for the family of a Republican president and another for the family of a Democratic president. Nor should congressional oversight begin and end when control of the White House changes hands,” Curtis wrote in his letter to Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the committee’s chair and ranking member, respectively.

Curtis said reports about foreign interests using the presidents’ sons to gain access to their powerful fathers “raise legitimate questions about foreign access to members of a sitting president’s family and whether such a relationship can create actual or perceived expectations of favorable treatment.”

The call from a GOP senator for the committee to subpoena the son of a sitting president of his own party is striking, particularly just weeks away from the midterm elections. Two other key GOP senators on the Judiciary Committee, John Cornyn and Thom Tillis , said Tuesday that they support Curtis’s push .

Grassley, not so much. He told The Hill Tuesday that he hadn’t read Curtis’s letter and said there are other demands for the committee’s time.

▪ The Hill : Hunter Biden responds: ‘I’ll sit next to Don Jr. and testify any time.’

ACA CUTS: The Trump administration announced that nearly 760,000 people will be removed from Affordable Care Act (ACA) coverage, citing alleged fraudulent enrollment.

“These are not real people. We’re not paying insurance for nonexistent ghosts,” Dr. Mehmet Oz , administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), said at a White House press conference.

Officials said the cancellations would save an estimated $2.2 billion in taxpayer funds. Oz also said approximately 35 percent of people currently on ObamaCare exchanges have never used their insurance.

The effort, which was spearheaded by Vice President Vance ’s White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, is “not about cutting off anybody from their benefits,” Vance said. “ It’s about cutting off fraudsters from stealing from these programs.”

However, health care policy experts and former officials are warning that the process lacked transparency and likely removed a significant number of legitimate subscribers.

“I would imagine we’ll hear from some subset of consumers that ask: why did my enrollment get cancelled?” Ellen Montz, a former deputy CMS administrator under Biden, told NPR .

▪ The Hill : Lawsuit targets ‘medically frail’ Medicaid work requirement exemption.

▪ The Hill : Sen. Susan Collins u rges White House to halt NIH grant proposal.

FULL KISSINGER : The president has declared Secretary of State Marco Rubio to be the permanent national security adviser , ending his acting stint in the role that’s lasted for more than a year.

Rubio was named acting national security adviser in May after Mike Waltz stepped down from his role in the aftermath of the “Signalgate” controversy in which a journalist was included in a private group chat on the messaging app Signal with high-ranking officials discussing a military operation against the Houthis in Yemen.

Waltz later was nominated and confirmed as U.N. ambassador.

Rubio became the first person to hold both roles since Henry Kissinger , who served during the Nixon and Ford administrations.

Rubio has worn several hats during Trump’s second term and earned praise from the president for his ability to juggle multiple responsibilities. It’s also at times been a source of humor at the many jobs Rubio has held, which included acting archivist of the U.S. and acting head of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

▪ Fox News : Rubio’s meme-worthy job collection takes new turn.

FIELD TEST : Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that the Pentagon is altering its promotion process for reaching the rank of general to “cut bureaucracy and demand true meritocracy” for senior ranks.

Hegseth said the department will roll out the Joint Warfighter Evaluation, a battlefield-style assessment for eligible colonels and Navy captains. The program will screen officers on their “ability to fight, adapt and win.”

Internal documents obtained by The Hill show each branch of the military will have their own version of the evaluation.

Hegseth said commanders should be chosen by “proven competence, not paper credential.” He has repeatedly broken with precedent throughout his time atop the Pentagon, blocking many promotions to one-star general or admiral, many of them Black and female service members.

▪ The Hill : Hegseth to chair Pentagon’s new homeland defense panel.

▪ The Hill : Mark Kelly says Pentagon doesn’t need ‘more testosterone.’

The president will greet the Chinese president at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland at 6 p.m.

Preschool teacher Melissa Mowbray works with AI on her laptop at Academic Magnet High School during the Charleston County School District Charleston Educator Symposium on July 22, 2026 in North Charleston, S.C. (Mic Smith, Associated Press)

AI CONUNDRUM: Schools are struggling to find the best path forward on regulating artificial intelligence use in the classroom, as they balance concerns about its potential negative effects on learning against the risk of leaving students underprepared for an ever-evolving workforce, The Hill’s Lexi Lonas Cochran reports .

The two largest school districts in the country — the Los Angeles Unified School District and New York City Public Schools — have now put a one-year moratorium on generative AI usage in the classroom.

In New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) said the one-year pause applies only to public schools through eighth grade. Select high school classrooms will be allowed to use AI pilot platforms, and high schoolers will take two AI critical thinking classes during this academic year.

“The tech industry wants us to believe that AI in early education is not only inevitable, but that it is necessary,” Mamdani said. “We do not see it that way.”

But there is also a growing recognition of the importance of AI in the workforce, which has led to school districts taking different approaches for students of different ages.

Tameka Royal , the CEO of Democracy Prep Public Schools, a system of charter schools in New York City, said the one-year moratorium is intended to give time for schools to study evidence, train educators and establish guardrails and policies that don’t yet exist around AI.

“This is not a pause that turns into avoidance,” Royal said, adding, “You’re determining where does AI expand access without replacing students’ thinking.”

“The push here is, for our high school students, the lessons to be about what are the tools and how do I use them responsibly and to really help elevate and enhance the work that I’m doing,” she added. “And then for our youngest students, it’s the taking a pause to truly understand what it means for them.”

▪ The Hill : Voters are turning to AI on politics. Is it up to the task?

▪ The Hill : 73 percent say AI firms not doing enough to prevent disaster: Survey.

FILE -Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, responds to reporters at the Capitol in Washington, July 14, 2026. (J. Scott Applewhite, Associated Press file)

UNDER THE MISCROSCOPE : Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) is under heightened scrutiny with her key Senate race coming into the homestretch, following a report that she was a subject of an FBI corruption investigation.

ProPublica reported Tuesday that the head of Collins’s super PAC, Scott Reed , during her 2020 Senate reelection campaign worked with Martin Kao , the head of a defense contractor called Navatek, to direct donations to the senator’s campaign in exchange for government contracts in Maine.

The outlet reported that Kao sent an initial $150,000 donation to Collins’s super PAC through a shell company, hiding that a government contractor — which is banned from making political contributions — sent the money.

Seven days after the super PAC cashed the check, ProPublica reported, one of its employees emailed a Navatek lobbyist asking for Kao’s phone number: “Senator Collins would like to call Martin to thank him.”

Kao reportedly told Navatek executives two months later that Collins committed to getting the company $32 million in naval contracts.

The report states that the investigation was heating up in 2024 and the FBI was prepared to investigate further the following year. The agents had enough evidence for a sweeping bribery probe that could have drawn in members of both parties.

But once Trump came in in 2025, the teams handling public corruption cases at the FBI and DOJ were gutted, killing the investigation.

Annie Clark , Collins’s deputy chief of staff, called the allegations “categorically false” and accused ProPublica of taking the word of an untrustworthy source in Kao. The now-former CEO pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including money laundering and wire fraud, and made the claims to investigators as he was seeking to receive a more lenient sentence.

ProPublica pushed back on Clark’s assertion, saying the outlet has the receipts to back up the claims, much of which it independently corroborated with a “trove of evidence.”

Democratic Senate nominee Troy Jackson ’s campaign was quick to denounce Collins over the report, calling it “corruption of the highest order.”

“We deserve answers about every contract and every conversation that Collins and her team facilitated on the backs of taxpayers. The jig is up,” Jackson said in a statement.

▪ New York Magazine : Troy Jackson, the accidental candidate.

Trump promised to free Jimmy Lai. Xi’s visit is the time to do it , Jemimah Steinfeld writes in The Hill.

The Kennedy Center: Fix it, don’t tear it down , Bill Press writes in The Hill.

Ella Langley arrives at the IHeartRadio Music Awards in Los Angeles on March 26, 2026. (Jordan Strauss, Invision, Associated Press)

And finally … Country singer Ella Langley ’s hit song “Choosin’ Texas” has made history as the longest-running No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100.

The single reached its 23rd week atop the charts this week, surpassing Mariah Carey ’s “All I Want for Christmas is You.” The song has been rising in the rankings of longest-running top singles in recent weeks, seeing Langley first become the longest-running artist with a non-holiday song when she surpassed “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus and Shaboozey ’s “A Bar Song” last month.

The industry and analytics company Luminate found “Choosin’ Texas” brought in more than 900 million on-demand streams in the U.S. and more than 1.25 billion globally as of mid-last month, according to The Associated Press .

Questions remain as to how much longer Langley’s single will stay at No.1 and whether Carey’s hit holiday song can retake the top spot later this year. “All I Want for Christmas is You” has returned to the top spot each December over the past several years.