UN ambassador defends White House press ban amid looming lawsuits
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U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz argued that President Trump’s restriction on three news outlets is lawful, while First Amendment groups prepare legal challenges.
U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz told CNN that the president has the authority to limit journalists to government facilities when, in his view, they are not acting as good-faith reporters, citing a 1965 Supreme Court decision.
Waltz said the ruling supports the administration’s stance that the president can restrict access to the White House press pool.
Legal experts say the ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico likely violates the First Amendment principle against viewpoint discrimination, a standard upheld in multiple court decisions.
National Press Club President Mark Schoeff Jr. said the First Amendment does not allow the government to select which journalists may work.
The Freedom of the Press Foundation’s deputy director of advocacy, Adam Rose, said the outlets are expected to file for injunctions within days, and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression warned that the ban could set a lasting precedent for censorship.
Democratic officials, including Maryland Governor Wes Moore, criticized the move as contrary to constitutional protections, while Republican lawmakers offered political commentary rather than legal analysis.
The White House Correspondents’ Association, led by President-elect Jacqui Heinrich, called the action a violation of press freedoms, and other news organizations expressed solidarity, describing the ban as intimidation that threatens public access to information.