Trump media ban: White House restores access to CNN, Politico and MS NOW after judge's order

CNN, Politico and MS NOW reporters have been allowed back into the White House after they sought an emergency court hearing to restore their revoked press access.

They accused the White House in a court filing of having "repeatedly violated" a judge's order lifting President Donald Trump's ban on the three media outlets.

But the White House said in a filing that it began reinstating access shortly after 09:00 EDT (13:00 GMT) on Thursday.

CNN, MS NOW and Politico reported they were granted entry hours after some of their staff were turned away. Trump initially said he barred the outlets because of "fake news". The White House later cited national security.

In the early hours, Judge Timothy Kelly had ruled the ban on the outlets should be temporarily lifted because it "likely violated their constitutional due process rights".

The White House in its filing said that the press passes had been restored by 09:07 local time and that confiscated badges were available starting at 09:45.

The standoff limited some TV coverage as Trump welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping to the White House ahead of a state dinner.

CNN said some of their journalists were denied entry, including senior White House reporter Betsy Klein. But a producer was allowed to enter, the outlet reported.

Politico said one of its reporters was denied access to the White House and had his press credentials confiscated.

MS NOW reported that its White House reporter Laura Barrón-López and a producer were barred and had their passes taken, but another MS NOW producer was allowed in.

Trump first announced last Friday he was barring CNN, MS Now and Politico from the White House, accusing them of writing "fiction or lies" about his administration.

By Saturday morning, each outlet reported that they were denied entry to the White House grounds and that their press badges were confiscated.

All three outlets spoke out against the ban, accusing the Trump administration of violating their constitutional rights.

In a joint statement on Monday, they said they were pursuing legal action to "defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports".

TV networks including Fox News, NBC, CBS and ABC had suspended their televised coverage of the White House in solidarity.

And more than 50 media organisations across the ideological spectrum filed an amicus brief in support of the lawsuit, including Fox News, the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal.

There have been previous instances of administrations attempting to limit certain outlets' access.

The Obama administration tried to exclude Fox News from participating in a specific press pool interview with an administration official in 2009.

But after objections from the other four networks in the pool, Fox News was allowed in.