CNN, MS NOW, Politico to sue Trump admin over White House access

The outlets described the ban as a "direct assault" on the First Amendment.

The three news outlets banned from the White House by President Donald Trump on Monday filed a First Amendment lawsuit to restore their access.

CNN, MS NOW and Politico are seeking a temporary restraining order demanding the White House restore their reporters' credentials after Trump announced the ban on Friday.

In a joint statement on Monday, the three news outlets said the lawsuit aims to "protect our First Amendment rights and defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes."

"Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists' credentials because it objected to our reporting. Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public's right to independent journalism free from government interference," the statement said.

Trump said in a social media post following the news on Monday that the barring of journalists was not "an assault on the Free Press" but instead "an assault on the FAKE NEWS," which he claimed was a national security "threat."

Trump said in a post to social media on Friday, "Media Outlets shouldn't be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they're covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America."

At an event in the Oval Office shortly after he posted his message, the president suggested there may be more restrictions on other outlets. Trump told reporters he supports a free press, but that "you need a fair and honest press."

"It's sick. I mean, there's something wrong with a country that can allow people to write purposely negative stuff. Now, if they want to write them, that's fine. But I don't have to let them into my, into the people's house," Trump said.

Journalists from the three outlets were turned away from the White House over the weekend. A reporter from CNN said on air that she was told by a Secret Service agent that her badge had been deactivated.

The three outlets are challenging the legality of the president's ban on multiple fronts, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit argues the ban violates the outlets' reporters' due process rights, that it unlawfully retaliates against their protected speech and that it violates the First Amendment by barring them from a nonpublic forum for unlawful reasons.

"This ban could not be a more direct assault on the First Amendment nor a more blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles," the news outlets wrote.

The lawsuit warns of a cascading effect for other news organizations should Trump seek to expand the scope of the ban, as he said he may do in his Friday remarks in the Oval Office.