Trump's Trials - CNN, MS NOW and Politico prevail against White House — for now

Episode Date: October 14, 2026

A federal judge ruled late Tuesday that President Trump cannot ban news organizations from covering him at the White House because he does not like the nature of their coverage — at least, not until the matter goes to a formal trial. NPR's David Folkenflik reports. Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

You're listening to Trump's terms. I'm Scott Detrow. Every episode, we bring you one story from NPR's recent coverage of the 47th president. With a focus on ways his administration is pushing the boundaries of presidential power. Here's the latest from NPR. From NPR News, I'm Steve Inskeep in Washington, D.C. We have an update on the White House's attempt to ban news organizations from the White House because President Trump doesn't like him. Last night, a federal judge ruled again. that the president must let them into the White House for the foreseeable future.

NPR's David Falkin Flick is covering this case. David, good morning. Good morning, Steve. Okay, what kind of ruling is this? Well, so the judge made a ruling like this that lasted for a period of weeks when he had a chance to think about this motion. This motion was for something called a preliminary injunction, which basically says, is there enough evidence to suggest that the plaintiffs, the people suing, that is CNNMS now in Politico, could prevail at trial? This injunction, this ruling, stops the White House from being able to bar the 70-some journalists for these three outlets from the White House for the length of the case, that is, until it goes to the trial phase. So it's not final, but it gives us some real insight into the judge's thinking.

Okay. What is the judge's thinking? Well, so the judge really didn't credit the Justice Department's arguments about national security, about concerns, about accuracy, about really anything because President Trump had been so vocal about not liking the coverage of those three outlets. In fact, that's what Theodore Butros, the lawyer for the outlet, said was the best witness they had was the President of United States and his own statements. Here's what Judge Timothy Kelly said in his ruling in part. He said, quote, it's not hard to conclude that President Trump likely banned plaintiffs from the White House because he believes that their reporting is generally inaccurate and biased against him. And he found that the president, the administration, had essentially violated two forms of constitutionally protected free speech. or violate the free speech that is in two different ways. That's, of course, part of the First Amendment.

He said essentially the White House was retaliating against these outlets for their coverage. And he said there was a due process violation. That is, they made their decision. They conveyed it pretty much instantaneously and put it in place over that weekend of mid-September. And son of a gun, they gave them no chance to appeal that until after it was always in place. He didn't say that national security doesn't matter. He said it wasn't really crediting it in this. case. Because Trump himself had been so blatant about his motives and so explicit about his motives. So where does the case go from here?

Well, you know, as I said, this suggests that CNNMIS now and Politico are very likely to prevail at trial. Officially, that's where it's headed. You know, oftentimes the parties tend to work this out at this point, save everybody the need for a trial. The White House didn't return my request for comment. But let's acknowledge the president often likes to keep going. He likes to tie the institutions that he is targeted up in court. It's expensive. it's complicating, it's distracting, and he doesn't like to yield the challenges to his authority. And we're seeing this play out in a variety of court cases that are happening, both involving the press, which the president has taken great aim at and others that he's tangling with as well. David, thanks so much. You bet. NPR's David Volkplik. And before we wrap up, a thank you to our NPR Plus supporters who hear each show without

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