Trump is bracing to lose his latest fight with the press

President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters in the Oval Office on September 18, 2026. | Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images This story appeared in Today, Explained, a daily newsletter that helps you understand the most compelling news and stories of the day.

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A hearing on President Donald Trump’s White House press ban ended without a ruling this afternoon — an admittedly anticlimactic outcome, but one that will likely change very soon.

The Trump-appointed judge in the case, Timothy Kelly, appeared skeptical of the administration’s arguments for banning CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House grounds last week.

Kelly said he would rule “as soon as possible.” Until then, the ban remains in place.

By all accounts, Trump’s case is a feeble one.

While the Justice Department attempted to argue on Wednesday that the three outlets’ reporting jeopardized national security, Trump himself kind of gave the game away last week when he said he had singled these organizations out over what he characterized as negative and inaccurate stories.

The move sat poorly even with people and institutions you’d expect to be sympathetic to Trump: Fox News was one of several outlets that boycotted White House events this week to protest the ban, for instance.

And ahead of today’s hearing, Trump himself seemed primed to lose.

In a Truth Social post on Monday, he promised he would “almost without question” appeal any decision against him.

Go a little deeper This is all emblematic of how Trump has escalated his attacks on the news media in his second term: not just by insulting and demeaning the press, but also by weaponizing otherwise neutral-seeming rules.

Every administration has policies that regulate who can access the White House grounds and under what conditions, for instance.

But in early 2025, the White House took control of the press pool — the rotating group of reporters that frequently travels with the president — and soon sought to exclude disfavored organizations .

More insidiously, Trump has mobilized regulatory agencies like the Federal Communications Commission against his perceived critics, in some cases even threatening to revoke the licenses of local TV stations that air coverage and commentary he disagrees with.