Leading news outlets CNN, Politico and MS NOW have said they intend to sue the administration of United States President Donald Trump after it banned them from the White House grounds. The White House revoked credentials of the journalists of the organisations “without notice or process” because it “objected to our reporting”, their statement said. In the statement, they added that they would file a lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of Columbia and could see emergency hearings in the case as soon as this week.
Trump said on Friday he was banning the outlets from the presidential mansion as punishment for distributing what he called “fake news”. He did not detail what prompted the ban but on Monday said it was not an attack on the free press, “which I cherish”, but “an assault on the FAKE NEWS, something that has grown like Cancer in our beloved United States of America”. He has also filed a number of lawsuits against media giants like The New York Times and CBS.
The move comes as his fellow Republicans seek to defend their narrow majorities in Congress in the November midterm elections. Pre-election opinion polls suggest the public is souring on Republicans, and Trump’s approval ratings stand near historic lows.
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