BREAKING: Judge Kelly gives Trump CRUSHING news in the CNN, Politico, MS NOW case by announcing at today's hearing that the administration appears to have violated the proper "process."
This might just be a record fast defeat for Donnie...
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, who ironically enough was appointed by Trump during his first term, previously oversaw a case involving the Trump White House's revocation of reporter Jim Acosta's credentials. Kelly ultimately ruled in favor of Acosta and his access was restored. In that case, Kelly drew on previously settled court cases which had found that journalists are inherently entitled to โpre-deprivation notice and opportunity to be heardโ before their access is removed.
โI think it is fair to say that the process the court laid out [in those cases] wasnโt followed here,โ Kelly said today, in reference to the new lawsuit.
And it really is that simple. Trump banned CNN, Politico, and MS NOW from the White House suddenly last Friday for supposedly spreading "fake news." In reality, he was just angry after his "special assistant" Natalie Harp showed him unflattering coverage of his presidency from the outlets in question.
The White House has since tried to retroactively construct a reason for the ban, and letters went out to the outlets yesterday claiming that this blatant attack on free speech is actually an effort to protect national security.
Trump provided them with no prior notice and was not interested in hearing a defense from them because this was all about protecting his own bruised ego. The reporters had broken no rules, nor had they even published accidentally false stories. Their great offense was that they reported honestly on this spiraling travesty of a presidency.
โThe public interest is in getting more information about the government. Of course, there's public interest in the prerogatives of the White House and the like," Theodore Boutrous Jr, an attorney for the outlets in this lawsuit, argued in court. "But here, a constitutional violation is against the public interest."
"This court made the point in Taylor versus Trump, in Acosta, the D.C. Circuit, and Karem clearly said this kind of due process violation is an irreparable harm and against the public interest," he added. "So we think, for all those reasons, the court should grant a temporary restraining order or a preliminary injunction on both the due process grounds and our two First Amendment arguments.โ
Please โค๏ธ and share to urge the judge to rule against Trump!