CNN warns White House: restore Air Force One access or face more legal action

CNN has warned the Trump White House it will be “forced to pursue additional judicial relief” unless the administration restores the network’s access to Air Force One, escalating the month-old legal fight over press access.

Ted Boutrous, CNN’s outside counsel, set out the warning in a demand letter to the US Justice Department on Monday, accusing the administration of retaliating against the network over its journalism. “These efforts to retaliate and discriminate against CNN based on the content of its news coverage are mistaken, counterproductive, and unlawful,” Boutrous wrote, CNN reported.

The White House has been excluding CNN from President Donald Trump’s trips aboard Air Force One, disrupting a decades-old tradition of pooled TV coverage of the presidency.

The dispute is the latest front in a legal battle that began when Trump banned CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House one month ago. The outlets sued, alleging violations of the First and Fifth Amendments, and a federal judge intervened to restore access — first temporarily, then longer-term. US District Judge Tim Kelly’s preliminary injunction found in the plaintiffs’ favour, ruling the ban likely violated the First Amendment as unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.

After the order, the administration restored White House access for the banned outlets, but the Justice Department continued to defend the ban in court and the White House has found other ways to single out journalists — including keeping CNN off Air Force One.

There is a precedent: the Associated Press sued last year when Trump blocked AP reporters from Air Force One, the Oval Office and other limited-space pool areas after the wire did not immediately adopt his new name for the Gulf of Mexico.