US Justice Department Argues Press Bans Are Presidential Prerogative, Claims CNN and Other Media Threaten National Security

▲ The White House

The U.S. Department of Justice has argued that the White House's bans on CNN, Politico, and MSNow from entering the premises are justified as a presidential prerogative, claiming that reports by these media outlets pose a threat to national security.

In court documents submitted on September 22 (local time) regarding a lawsuit filed by CNN and others seeking the reinstatement of their press credentials, the DOJ stated that "White House access is a privilege, not a right."

The department further emphasized that the president can control restricted areas to protect national security-related information that may be present within the White House, asserting, "Even from a perspective of discrimination, access to the Oval Office, the president's official workplace, can at least be controlled."

The DOJ also claimed, "President Donald Trump determined that the plaintiffs were involved in several reporting incidents that threatened national security, and such reports raise concerns about national security."

The CNN reports flagged by the Justice Department include coverage of President Trump's plans to build a top-secret bunker beneath the East Wing banquet hall of the White House and multiple reports related to the war with Iran.

For MSNow, the department took issue with reports concerning the war with Iran and investigations into information leaks, while for Politico, it targeted articles regarding the Iran conflict, the White House banquet hall, and Russian sanctions.

CNN pointed out that while the Justice Department argues that the ban is within the president's authority, courts have consistently sided with the press whenever the Trump administration has attempted to strip news organizations of their White House reporting rights.

The Justice Department also submitted letters sent to CNN and other outlets as evidence to the court.

This was intended to counter arguments made by CNN and other outlets in the lawsuit that the White House violated their procedural rights by imposing the entry ban without any prior written warning.

In the letters sent to the news organizations, the Justice Department cited various articles published by the respective outlets as reasons for the access ban and demanded that they submit written statements if they wished to contest it.

On September 18, President Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social to criticize CNN as "fake news" and MSNow as an "outlet that recently changed its name from MSNBC due to a lack of viewers and credibility," announcing that the entry ban would take effect immediately.

Regarding Politico, he claimed that the outlet had illicitly received 8 million dollars in subscriptions during the preceding administration of Joe Biden.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)

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