U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an announcement in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, September 18, 2026, in Washington, DC, USA.
Samuel Corum | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Late Tuesday night, the U.S. Department of Justice asked a federal judge not to block President Donald Trump’s ban on three news organizations from the White House, saying “access to the White House is a privilege, not a right.”
The Justice Department also said in a new court filing that President Trump’s decision Friday to immediately expel MS NOW, CNN and Politico from the White House was motivated by national security concerns.
The motion was made ahead of a teleconference hearing scheduled for Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. There, Judge Timothy Kelly will hear arguments from lawyers for media organizations who have asked Trump to block the ban from continuing as part of a lawsuit filed against him on Monday.
“The President has determined that Plaintiffs have reported sensitive and sensitive information relating to national security,” the Justice Department said in a letter to Kelly, a Trump appointee.
“The President therefore has a compelling interest in restricting access to the White House grounds to entities that do not pose such a risk to national security,” the filing states.
The Justice Department has targeted the news organizations’ claims in the lawsuit, saying reporters do not have First Amendment rights to the White House.
The news organizations in the lawsuit allege that Trump’s suspension was motivated by so-called viewpoint discrimination, in which they were deemed to target “motivating ideologies, opinions, and viewpoints.”
In its filing, the Justice Department included a new letter dated Tuesday to media outlets, giving them an opportunity to challenge the original decision on the ban and the factual basis of the ban.
The letter references articles published by news organizations that purport to threaten national security.
“Plaintiffs may file a response by Friday, September 25, 2026 at 5:00 p.m.,” the filing states.
“If not, ‘this initial decision will be final.’
Disclosure: CNBC and MS NOW are divisions of Versant Media.
