White House defends media outlet bans, now citing ‘professionalism’ standards

Trump administration lawyers are fighting back against CNN, MS NOW and Politico’s attempt to prevent the White House from enforcing futures bans against them — with the Justice Department (DOJ) now arguing the three outlets failed to meet “professional” standards.

“The President concluded that they have failed to maintain basic minimum ‘standards of professionalism and decorum expected of those given access to the White House Complex, including’ by ‘publishing sensitive or classified information,’” the DOJ attorneys representing President Trump wrote in a Friday night court filing .

The filing comes as Trump continues his efforts to restrict these networks’ coverage of him despite a federal judge ruling against a previous White House grounds ban. Most recently, the administration prevented CNN from fulfilling two previously scheduled television press pool duties, barring its reporters from traveling with the president.

The Friday filing cites Truth Social posts from the president in the days following the ban , where Trump wrote that “The White House is not instituting an assault on the Free Press,” but rather “instituting an assault on the FAKE NEWS.”

The DOJ legal team reupped its claims that CNN, MS NOW and Politico jeopardized national security by “publishing classified” information, with the department now adding they believe their reporting on the administration demonstrates these networks “have failed to maintain minimum professional journalistic standards.”

The filing also argued that, throughout history, presidents have “have long decided which journalists should receive privileged access, which has varied substantially from administration to administration” — including George Washington handpicking journalists “based on political considerations” for his Farewell Address.

Trump initially banned the outlets in September, with TV “pool,” as it is known — consisting of CNN, Fox News, ABC, NBC and CBS — issuing a statement blasting the president’s move to keep CNN from the White House. The group then held back coverage of the president for days in solidarity with the cable channel.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly ruled that the White House violated the media companies’ due process rights, and access for journalists working for the three outlets was restored.

The DOJ has sought to reinstate the ban, with senior counsel Michael Velchik writing in a past court filing, “After all, access to the White House is a privilege — not a right.”

Attorney General Todd Blanche also said on Sunday that “the president hasn’t denied access” to the outlets.

“That’s not the right way to describe it. This is what the president has said –– is that he is sick and tired of certain media outlets just refusing to report accurate news,” he said.

The Trump administration now faces a new fight over the White House preventing CNN reporters from fulfilling their press pool duties for his trip to Knoxville for Tennessee-Texas college football game, as well as campaign events in Oklahoma and Texas.