The White House is refusing to allow Politico on Air Force One on Monday, which means the news organization cannot fulfill its press corps pool responsibilities.
A Politico spokesperson confirmed that the publication was excluded from the out-of-town travel pool, a small group of reporters who travel with the president on trips.
President Donald Trump announced on September 18 that he was “banning” Politico, CNN and MS NOW from the White House, a move that legal experts called unconstitutional.
The news outlets filed a lawsuit on September 21 alleging the ban violates the First and Fifth Amendments. Judge Timothy J. Kelly sided with the plaintiffs and issued a temporary restraining order requiring the Trump administration to reinstate the journalists’ press badges.
Since then, however, the White House has repeatedly barred CNN from traveling on Air Force One on days when it has been CNN’s turn to be the TV pool representative. Now, on the day it was Politico’s turn to be the print pool representative, Politico has been barred as well.
The Trump administration appears to be justifying these new restrictions by saying that access to the White House complex is different than access to tight spaces like Air Force One. The Associated Press has an ongoing lawsuit over this distinction, since Trump tried to ban the wire service from certain spaces last year.
Monday’s action against Politico will likely be incorporated into the next legal filing by CNN, MS NOW and Politico. Judge Kelly is scheduled to hold a hearing on Thursday over the news outlets’ request for a preliminary injunction, which would protect press access to the White House for a longer period of time ahead of a potential trial.
“The law is absolutely clear. The harm to our clients, the First Amendment, and the public as a whole is profound,” the attorney for the three news outlets, Ted Boutrous, said in a statement. “It is critical that the White House is enjoined to keep this unconstitutional ban on the free press out of commission.”
Last week, when reporters from TIME asked if Trump was ignoring the court order, Trump said no, and then communications director Steven Cheung piped in: “The judge basically ordered them to renew their access back to the White House, but that’s different than allowing the pool into the events in the Oval Office or on Air Force One.”
Cheung did not respond to a request for comment on Monday about the action against Politico.
Trump is slated to travel to Nebraska for a campaign stop on Monday afternoon.
With Politico barred from the trip, the White House offered the publication’s seat to other news organizations that routinely take turns in the out-of-town travel pool, and several publications declined, sources with knowledge of the matter told CNN.
Unusually, the White House’s Sunday night guidance email to the press corps did not list any news outlets traveling with the president at all — perhaps a sign that Politico’s seat was proving hard to fill.