The president’s frustration at the media, however, came after a week of setbacks in which major institutions handed him a series of losses across his agenda.
First, the Supreme Court blocked his plan to restrict mail-in voting ahead of the midterms. This prompted Trump to lash out at the court’s justices including those he had appointed. “These are not the people I interviewed to serve on the United States Supreme Court,” he said.
The Federal Reserve, the US central bank, then raised interest rates after Trump had spent months arguing they should be cut. This was followed by a judge ordering his administration to give 30 days’ notice before making any changes to the Kennedy Center arts venue in Washington DC after the president warned it could be “ripped down”.
These headlines, combined with approval ratings that recently sunk to record lows for his second term, suggest Trump is facing challenging political headwinds.
His latest attack on the press, however, raises clear legal questions.
The First Amendment to the US Constitution forbids Congress from “abridging” the freedom of the press. It is language that courts have long interpreted as preventing the government from discriminating against the media based on the content of their coverage.
All three targeted news outlets have promised to file lawsuits challenging Trump’s decision.
Although the breadth of this move is unprecedented, it is far from the first time the Trump administration has attempted to limit or deny access to the White House to members of mainstream media outlets.
In his first term, the administration revoked CNN correspondent Jim Acosta’s press credentials, setting off a legal battle that was ultimately resolved in the journalist’s favour. It also temporarily suspended the pass of a reporter who had a heated argument with White House adviser Sebastian Gorka – a move that also was subsequently blocked by the courts.
Last year, the White House banned reporters for the Associated Press from participating in the president’s press pool – which allows media outlets access to smaller in-town and travelling presidential appearances – because the newswire service would not follow Trump’s move to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
That dispute also led to a protracted – and yet to be fully resolved – legal battle, prompting the White House to change press pool rules to drop the guaranteed spot for all wire services.
