CNN, MS NOW and 'Politico' return to the White House despite Trump's stubbornness

WashingtonCNN, MS NOW and Politico journalists were able to re-enter the White House this Thursday, following the clash between the Trump administration and the judge. Early in the morning, Secret Service agents had blocked the reporters' access even though a judge had instructed at dawn that the White House had to "immediately" restore their credentials.The order came after the three media outlets affected by the ban had taken the case to court. The District of Columbia judge, Timothy J. Kelly, had issued a ruling requiring the government to return the accreditations to the journalists for at least 14 days, a period during which the magistrate would reach a final decision.

"The administration must immediately restore the permanent White House press credentials held by the employees of CNN, MS NOW and Politico", wrote Kelly, who stressed that the withdrawal of the journalists' credentials had been carried out "without due constitutional process".

When the journalists found that they were still unable to access the White House, the three media outlets once again requested an urgent hearing from the judge. It remained unclear whether the secret service finally let them in because it had been a misunderstanding or because the White House ultimately backed down.

A week ago, Trump announced via Truth Social that he was banning the entry of the three media outlets to the press presidential –the group of journalists who accompany the president everywhere– as retaliation for publishing "fake news". And he warned that "other media" would follow the same path. The decision constituted the most aggressive attack on the press in the open war that the tycoon is waging against the media.

In response, this week the five major American television networks –including Fox, a channel friendly to Trump– have carried out an information boycott of the White House. The televisions have stopped broadcasting a large part of the president's acts, a fact that has led to surreal scenes in which one can see the Republican president giving interventions during official acts, but without sound because there was no journalist present.