Trump White House Blocks CNN Despite Judge's Order

A federal judge told the White House to restore press access for CNN, Politico and MS NOW, and hours later those outlets were still shut out of Xi Jinping's state dinner arrivals.

CNN and MS NOW say they were kept out of guest arrivals at President Donald Trump's White House state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday, September 24, less than a day after a federal judge ordered the administration to restore their press access.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly issued a 14-day temporary restraining order early Thursday, directing the White House to reinstate credentials for CNN, MS NOW and Politico. Trump had announced on Friday, September 18, that he was banning all three outlets from covering the White House. The organizations sued. The judge sided with them.

And yet, according to CNN's own reporting on OutFront, the network was denied entry anyway when it came to the dinner's guest arrivals.

"The breaking news, denied," anchor Erin Burnett told viewers, describing how CNN was blocked "moments" after the court ruling had supposedly settled the matter.

The White House response, posted on social media, drew a distinction rather than admitting defiance: "This is a pre-credentialed event. Contrary to what the Fake News wants you to believe, they don't just get to have free rein into every part of the White House, every event and every press call." Access was eventually restored later that evening, per Wonderwall's account of the CNN reporting.

That restoration didn't stop the story from becoming a headache for Trump's own side. CNN commentator Scott Jennings, a conservative strategist who is reportedly in contention to become the next White House press secretary, went on Anderson Cooper 360 and called the whole episode a strategic error.

Asked by Cooper whether shutting reporters out during a marquee event with the Chinese president was smart, Jennings didn't hedge. "No, it wasn't," he said. "This was a predictable outcome, by the way, in court this morning."

He went further, telling Cooper that compliance with a court ruling shouldn't be optional. "I think legal judgments ought to be followed," Jennings said. "So when judges make decisions, we ought to follow those immediately."

Jennings framed his objection less as a press-freedom argument and more as a communications failure on Trump's own terms. A president hosting a foreign head of state, he argued, wants maximum coverage, not a fight over who gets in the door. "You'd want him to be fully available and projecting to the American people," he said. "And you're not getting that right now. So that's a miss."

The temporary restraining order runs for 14 days, which means the underlying legal fight over whether Trump can bar specific outlets from White House grounds is far from resolved. Kaitlan Collins was back on the grounds by Thursday night, per Jennings' own comment during the broadcast. Whether the administration treats the next credentialed event the same way, or waits for a fuller court ruling before testing the boundary again, is the open question now sitting with Judge Kelly's docket.