US President Donald Trump said he would ban cable news outlets CNN and MS NOW as well as online publication Politico from the White House, a move that strikes at the heart of First Amendment protections for the news media.
Trump posted Friday on social media that the ban would become "effective immediately," citing what he said was unfavorable coverage of his administration. He also threatened to bar other outlets from the executive mansion, saying "other Fake News Media Outlets to follow."
Asked by a reporter later Friday in the Oval Office why he decided to ban the outlets now, Trump responded, "It's really just cumulative stories over the last few years. You get sick of it." Trump mentioned the New York Times and Washington Post as other examples of what he sees as "fake news" and said "we're probably not going to display the paper anymore in the White House."
It wasn't immediately clear how the president would attempt to enforce the ban.
"A very simple ban. I don't want them in my office. I don't want them here. I would say the ban would go as far as you can," Trump said when asked what it would entail.
The president referred to the new policy as "the ban on the free press."
The move, if it is made, is likely to draw a legal challenge. Federal courts have previously overturned the Trump administration's efforts to bar reporters entirely from the White House campus.
Trump acknowledged that the ban could be struck down by a judge, saying "I think it's good to point it out whether it survives or doesn't."
"There's something wrong with a country that can allow people to write purposely negative stories," he continued. "Now, if they want to write them, that's fine. But I don't have to let them into my - into the people's house."
The First Amendment of the US Constitution bars the government from making laws that abridge freedom of speech and the press.
"CNN stands fully behind our White House team and their fair and accurate reporting. We have a right under the US Constitution to do that reporting without hindrance or interference from the government. Should the ban which President Trump threatened go ahead, it would be an illegal assault on that fundamental and constitutionally-protected right," CNN said in a statement.
Politico "will continue to fairly report on this White House and future ones. We will vigorously defend our First Amendment rights against any attempt to restrict them. The claims that POLITICO received government subsidies are false and have been thoroughly debunked," the news outlet said in a statement.
MS NOW declined to comment.
The White House Correspondents' Association, a collection of reporters from news organizations that cover the White House, issued a statement Friday evening supporting the outlets.
"The president said it plainly in the Oval Office, describing his own planned action as a "ban on the free press," WHCA President Jacqui Heinrich said in the statement, adding that the Constitution protects press freedoms whether or not the president likes or approves an organization's coverage or journalists' questions.
"This is about more than the rights of journalists. It is about the right of the American people to receive a full and independent account of the activities, policies and decisions of whoever occupies the nation's highest office. The WHCA stands in defense of our colleagues at CNN, MS NOW, and Politico who are being singled out for doing their jobs," WHCA's Heinrich wrote.
Trump's announcement is the latest attempt by the administration to curb press access to events that are in the public interest since the president returned to office.
The Associated Press sued Trump administration officials last year when the White House excluded the outlet from presidential events, though its reporters were still allowed to work from the grounds. A district judge initially sided with the AP, saying that the White House cannot punish outlets over the content of their news stories. A higher court largely stayed the injunction issued by a lower court judge, however. The case is awaiting a decision by an appeals court.
The US Treasury Department excluded journalists from several outlets, including Bloomberg News, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, from covering the recent Group of 20 finance ministers summit.
The Defense Department separately barred mainstream media organizations last year from keeping offices in the Pentagon after they refused to sign onto new limits on their activities.
And before that, the White House seized control of picking the group of reporters able to cover Trump in smaller environments including Air Force One and the Oval Office. The group, known as the protective pool, had for decades been formed by the WHCA.
"The First Amendment prohibits the president from punishing journalists because he doesn't like their coverage," Jameel Jaffer, executive director of Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said in a statement.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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