CNN threatens Trump’s DOJ with further legal action over Air Force One blocks

CNN is threatening President Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) with further legal action if the White House continues blocking the network from performing its duties in pool rotation.

In a letter to the DOJ this week, CNN’s attorney Ted Boutrous wrote “these efforts to retaliate and discriminate against CNN based on the content of its news coverage are mistaken, counterproductive, and unlawful,” the outlet reported.

Boutrous argued that certain White House spaces the West Wing has attempted to block CNN from “belong not to any particular president or administration but to all Americans.” He added that “CNN and other members of the press serve as surrogates for the public when covering the White House.”

CNN was one of three outlets the president sought to ban from the White House last month before a federal judge ordered access for the journalists be restored.

Trump’s decision sparked a brief boycott by other TV networks, which rotate duties pooling coverage of the president’s daily activities and statements.

CNN is part of that rotation and has been blocked on several occasions from boarding Air Force One or entering other White House spaces the TV pool representative typically has access to.

The president has long warred with CNN, accusing the network of publishing “fake news” and insisting he has a right to keep them from covering his White House.

A judge in Washington, D.C., is currently weighing whether a temporary injunction he handed down last month restoring CNN’s access to the White House grounds covers pool coverage specifically.