DOJ defends Trump ban of 3 news outlets, says White House access is a 'privilege — not a right'

The U.S. Department of Justice late Tuesday evening urged a federal judge not to block President Donald Trump's total ban of three news outlets from the White House, saying, "Access to the White House is a privilege — not a right."

The DOJ, in a new court filing, also said Trump was motivated by concerns about national security in his decision Friday to summarily ban MS NOW, CNN and Politico from the White House.

The filing came ahead of Wednesday's scheduled teleconference hearing in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., where Judge Timothy Kelly will hear arguments by a lawyer for the outlets, which have asked him to enjoin Trump from continuing the ban as part of a lawsuit filed against him Monday.

"The President has determined that Plaintiffs have reported classified or sensitive information bearing on national security," the DOJ said in the filing to Kelly, who is a Trump appointee.

"The President therefore has a compelling interest in limiting access to White House grounds to organizations that do not pose such a risk to national security," the filing says.

Targeting claims by the media outlets in their lawsuit, the DOJ said that there is no First Amendment right of news reporters to the White House.

The outlets in their suit say that Trump's ban was motivated by so-called viewpoint discrimination, or targeting them for their perceived "motivating ideology or the opinion or perspective."

The DOJ, in its filing, included new letters, dated Tuesday, to the media outlets, giving each of them to chance to contest the initial decision to ban them and the factual basis for the ban.

The letters reference stories published by the outlets that purportedly threatened national security.

"Plaintiffs may submit any response by 5:00 pm on Friday, September 25, 2026," the filing says.

"Otherwise, 'this initial decision will be final."

Disclosure: CNBC and MS NOW are divisions of Versant Media.