CNN wins its White House access back — then gets bounced from Trump-Xi dinner anyway

BS BULLETIN:

A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to restore White House credentials to CNN, MS NOW and Politico.
The outlets were allowed back onto White House grounds Thursday after initially encountering problems getting through the gates.
Hours later, CNN and MS NOW said their journalists were denied access to cover guest arrivals for President Trump’s state dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

CNN’s return to the White House lasted several hours before things got complicated again.

A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to restore access to CNN, MS NOW and Politico early Thursday, temporarily blocking President Donald Trump’s ban on the three news organizations.

By around midday, journalists from all three organizations were once again reporting from White House grounds.

Then came dinner.

Trump hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping for a state dinner Thursday evening, with journalists credentialed to cover arriving guests.

CNN and MS NOW say they weren’t among them.

“The breaking news — denied,” CNN’s Erin Burnett announced Thursday evening.

CNN reported that two of its journalists were prevented from covering the arrivals.

MS NOW White House reporter Laura Barrón-López said her organization was denied access as well.

That produced the rather unusual spectacle of the networks celebrating a courtroom victory over their White House ban in the morning and reporting another denial of access by dinner.

The legal fight began after Trump announced last Friday that CNN, MS NOW and Politico would no longer be permitted to cover the White House.

The outlets sued.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly — whom Trump appointed during his first term — issued a temporary restraining order requiring the administration to restore the journalists’ credentials.

Kelly concluded that the outlets were likely to succeed on their claim that the administration had violated their constitutional due-process rights.

Even getting back through the gate wasn’t immediate.

CNN reporter Betsy Klein attempted to enter shortly after 6 a.m. Thursday and was told she wasn’t approved despite showing officials the court order.

Other CNN personnel encountered similar problems. The outlets eventually gained access around midday.

But Thursday night’s dispute was different in an important respect.

CNN senior White House correspondent Kristen Holmes said coverage of the state-dinner arrivals was not part of the rotating press pool.

Instead, it was a separate pre-credentialed media event.

CNN said it had submitted names for credentials Wednesday night and was later asked by the White House which journalists it wanted to send. According to Holmes, the network provided two names but was subsequently told neither would be admitted.

That distinction matters because the judge’s order restored the outlets’ White House credentials; whether it also required the administration to admit particular journalists to every separately credentialed event is a different question.

CNN nevertheless argued that the exclusion continued the same pattern that produced the lawsuit in the first place.

MS NOW made a similar complaint.

Barrón-López noted that the arrival ceremony was the sort of routine White House event the network would ordinarily cover.

Politico was also named in CNN’s initial breaking-news report about the dinner-arrivals access, although the clearest independent overnight reporting specifically confirms complaints from CNN and MS NOW.

The dispute capped an extraordinary day in the larger White House press fight.

CNN, MS NOW and Politico started Thursday outside the gates.

A judge ordered them back in. They eventually got back in.

Then dinner arrived. And CNN and MS NOW found themselves on the outside again.

MY QUICK TAKE

CNN finally gets the golden ticket back into Willy Wonka’s factory.

Then somebody tells them the ticket doesn’t include dinner.

At this point, White House press access needs its own airline-style fare chart: Grounds included. State dinner extra. Kaitlan Collins apparently subject to blackout dates.