Banned news outlets ask judge to extend block on White House enforcement

News outlets that sued to regain access to the White House after President Trump banned their reporters from the grounds are asking a federal judge to intervene in the administration’s ongoing efforts to keep CNN from covering the president via pool duty.

In a new court filing this week, an attorney representing the outlets wrote that “the White House’s words and actions leave little doubt that it will immediately reinstitute a complete ban of CNN, MS NOW, and POLITICO if allowed the opportunity.”

The Trump administration is enforcing the ban “unpredictably and inconsistently” and causing CNN “irreparable harm,” the outlets argued.

“Moreover, the ban independently violates the First Amendment by restricting access to and use of a nonpublic forum on viewpoint-discriminatory and unreasonable terms,” the media companies’ attorney wrote, reiterating an argument he made when the outlets initially sued to regain access to the White House.

The latest filing comes as the networks have decided to resume pool coverage while CNN’s ability to fulfill its duty in the rotating list of outlets covering the president’s daily activities remains in doubt.

Trump initially banned the outlets earlier this month, and when U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly ruled last week that the White House violated the media companies’ due process rights, access for journalists working for the three outlets was restored.

Tensions flared between CNN and the White House again over the weekend when the outlet was kept from Air Force One as Trump traveled to Tennessee to attend a college football game.

The president has consistently accused CNN and other outlets of peddling “fake news” and suggested he has a right to keep them from covering him.

CNN is slated for pool coverage on Thursday. The Trump administration is required to submit a response to this week’s filing by Friday.