By Susan Heavey
WASHINGTON, Sept 21 (Reuters) - CNN, MS NOW and Politico said on Monday they are suing President Donald Trump and other members of his administration to protect their rights under the US Constitution's First Amendment after he banned the news outlets from the White House building grounds.
The three news organizations said they have notified the government that they were filing their lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of Columbia and could see emergency hearings in the case
as soon as this week.
"Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists' credentials because it objected to our reporting. Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public's right to independent journalism free from government interference," they wrote in a joint statement.
The lawsuit aims "to protect our First Amendment rights and defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes," they added.
The First Amendment protects the freedom of the press and speech.
Representatives for the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump first announced his action on Friday in a social media post. The Republican president defended the ban in another social media post on Monday after the lawsuit was announced, calling the news media a security threat, without providing any evidence.
"The White House is not instituting an assault on the Free Press, something which I cherish. It is instituting an assault on the FAKE NEWS," Trump wrote. "It is corrupt, purposeful, pervasive, fully coordinated, and totally out of control. It is a threat to our National Security, and must be stopped, NOW!"
His administration has upended decades of tradition in dealings between the White House and press, denying the access many major news organizations have had to the president while elevating new media outlets seen as more sympathetic to the administration. He has also filed a number of lawsuits against news organizations.
CNN had been scheduled to cover Monday's White House events for the broader press corps, including Trump's trip to New York for the United Nations General Assembly. It was not immediately clear what television footage of the president would be provided to the public.
"The ban is unconstitutional and should be immediately restrained," the news outlets said in a copy of their lawsuit, adding that the ban was already impeding coverage that could have wider impact.
"The ban inflicts an injury on all news media organizations — who now risk a similar fate if they engage in reporting the President deems insufficiently favorable," the three wrote in their complaint, which seeks a temporary restraining order to block Trump's action.
'A FREE AND INDEPENDENT PRESS'
Trump's latest move comes as his fellow Republicans seek to defend their narrow majorities in Congress in the November midterm elections as polls show the public souring on Republicans and Trump's own approval ratings stand near historic lows.
On Saturday, all three outlets said their journalists were turned away from the White House grounds and their press credentials confiscated, a day after Trump initially announced his ban in a social media post and threatened to block other outlets.
MS NOW and CNN over the weekend instead set up their journalists across the street from the White House and continued to broadcast coverage.
Trump on Friday addressed what he called his "ban on the free press" with reporters at an event in the Oval Office and said there was no particular incident that provoked the move. Asked what other news organizations could be targeted, Trump cited The New York Times and The Washington Post as "fake news" but said they had not been removed yet.
The Associated Press, the White House Correspondents' Association and others have criticized Trump's ban, citing the fundamental American right to free speech and calling for access to be immediately restored.
"The American people, through a free and independent press, must be able to scrutinize those elected to power, regardless of whether government officials view it favorably," the correspondents' association said in a statement.
The AP filed its own lawsuit after being barred along with Reuters last year from the group of reporters that cover the president's daily movements.
During his first term in office, Trump sought to revoke or suspend White House credentials of two correspondents for CNN and Playboy magazine but federal judges ordered their press passes restored.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey in Washington; additional reporting by Andrew Goudsward and Mike Scarcella in Washington, Nupur Anand in New York, and Jaspreet Singh, Anusha Shah and Anhata Rooprai in Bengaluru; Editing by Louise Heavens, Emelia Sithole-Matarise, Will Dunham and Susan Fenton)
