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'Trump's legal position has shifted dramatically' Unpacking WH media ban · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: An emergency hearing could decide if President Trump's White House
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  Speaker 1: ban on CNN, MSNOW and Politico will stand. The hearing,
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  Speaker 1: a critical test for the First Amendment protections and press freedom. Overnight,
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  Speaker 1: the Trump administration filed a response to a lawsuit from
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  Speaker 1: the networks arguing that the president has a right to
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  Speaker 1: restrict reporters, quote, even for viewpoint discriminatory reasons. Now, in
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  Speaker 1: the filing, the Justice Department says CNN reporting was a
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  Speaker 1: threat to national security. And in a letter to CNN,
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  Speaker 1: the Department of Justice listed specific reporting over the past
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  Speaker 1: year they believe was a big enough risk to warrant
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  Speaker 1: the ban. Let's get right to CNN's Elena Treen for
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  Speaker 1: the latest on this.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Elena.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning, John.
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  Speaker 4: And as you can see, I'm reporting from our D.C. bureau,
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  Speaker 4: not the White House, as someone who is part of
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  Speaker 4: of this ban. But look, we should get more answers
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  Speaker 4: today from the judge who was assigned to this case.
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  Speaker 4: I should note a Trump-appointed judge who was assigned to
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  Speaker 4: this case. The hearing will be at 3.30 p.m.
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  Speaker 2: Eastern.
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  Speaker 4: But this new court filing from the Justice Department is
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  Speaker 4: giving us more details into what we can see the
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  Speaker 4: Trump administration's argument to look like. One, they did lay
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  Speaker 4: out a number of different stories that they believed support
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  Speaker 4: the justification in their eyes for this ban. They said
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  Speaker 4: that White House access specifically is, quote, a privilege and
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  Speaker 4: not a right, citing stories around the Iran war, the
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  Speaker 4: ballroom coverage and others saying that that amounted to a
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  Speaker 4: national security risk. And I do think this is the
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  Speaker 4: key point here, because this is different from what we've
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  Speaker 4: heard the president say. initially, when he announced this ban.
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  Speaker 4: The Justice Department is really going to be leaning into
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  Speaker 4: this idea that the ban is because they believe these
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  Speaker 4: outlets are a national security risk with the reporting that
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  Speaker 4: they've been doing. And I want to read for you
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  Speaker 4: what they put out in this Justice Department response. They said, quote,
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  Speaker 4: the president has found that plaintiffs have engaged in a
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  Speaker 4: number of reporting incidents that have threatened national security. Such
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  Speaker 4: reporting directly raises national security concerns. So again, I think
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  Speaker 4: what you can hear in the argument, particularly in court,
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  Speaker 4: when the Trump administration comes up, will be this idea
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  Speaker 4: around national security. But again, I think this is a
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  Speaker 4: big distinction from what we've heard from the president when
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  Speaker 4: he first announced this, and he actually answered reporters' questions
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  Speaker 4: later that day. This ban was put in place on Friday.
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  Speaker 4: He said that there was no specific story or specific
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  Speaker 4: reasoning for wanting to ban CNN, MSNOW, and Politico. He
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  Speaker 4: said it was a cumulative decision. It was based on
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  Speaker 4: cumulative reporting that he has felt about. This, though, making
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  Speaker 4: very clear that this is a national security issue, and
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  Speaker 4: that is the legal argument they will be going with.
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  Speaker 4: I'd remind you as well, whenever the president wants to
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  Speaker 4: actually kind of push through things, whether it be policy or,
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  Speaker 4: for example, things we've seen him building around D.C. with
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  Speaker 4: the arch or the helipad and other changes to the ballroom,
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  Speaker 4: he's insisted it is because of national security. That is
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  Speaker 4: often a justification we've heard the president use when he
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  Speaker 4: has some controversial things. I would note, though, that not
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  Speaker 4: all Republicans are on the president's side here. CNN has
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  Speaker 4: actually interviewed a number of different Republican lawmakers who argue that, sure,
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  Speaker 4: maybe the president doesn't like or agree with some of
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  Speaker 4: the reporting, but they argue that it's not the right
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  Speaker 4: approach to try and ban them. Listen to what they said.
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  Speaker 3: I think it's a mistake.
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  Speaker 5: The better approach to tough questions is a good answer.
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  Speaker 2: I agree with the diagnosis.
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  Speaker 4: I don't agree with the cure. Every member of the
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  Speaker 4: media should be treated the same. So, look, we'll see
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  Speaker 4: what happens today, John. I will note as well that
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  Speaker 4: the president has said in recent days that he believes
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  Speaker 4: the media outlets will actually win, arguing that the judge
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  Speaker 4: in the case who's been appointed, again, a Trump-appointed judge,
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  Speaker 4: is someone who has sided with the media in the past.
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  Speaker 4: Back in the first term, this judge was the one
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  Speaker 4: who restored a former CNN White House reporter's access to
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  Speaker 4: the White House when they tried to strip him of
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  Speaker 4: his badge. So just context for what we'll be watching
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  Speaker 4: for later today.
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  Speaker 1: Elena Treen, very much not at the White House this morning.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for being with us.
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  Speaker 6: Kate?
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  Speaker 3: Joining us right now is CNN senior legal analyst Ellie
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  Speaker 3: Honig for more on this. This filing came kind of
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  Speaker 3: in the middle of the night from the Justice Department. Ellie,
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  Speaker 3: what do you make of it?
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  Speaker 6: Well, Kate, Donald Trump's legal position has shifted dramatically overnight.
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  Speaker 6: And now we are seeing Trump's lawyers say very different
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  Speaker 6: things than Donald Trump and J.D. Vance and others have
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  Speaker 6: spent the last five, six days saying. So there are
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  Speaker 6: two main issues in this case. The first is the
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  Speaker 6: First Amendment issue. And as Elena just laid out, the
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  Speaker 6: Trump administration's position now is that the ban is because
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  Speaker 6: of national security concerns. The problem with that is that
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  Speaker 6: the president himself has said repeatedly over the last five,
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  Speaker 6: six days that the reason for the ban is unfavorable coverage,
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  Speaker 6: negative coverage. I don't like the tenor or the type
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  Speaker 6: of the coverage. Very different stories. The second issue is
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  Speaker 6: due process. CNN, MSNOW, and Politico point out that They
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  Speaker 6: were given no notice of the ban, no opportunity to
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  Speaker 6: contest it.
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  Speaker 2: Well, now what Trump's lawyers are saying is we are
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  Speaker 2: going to.
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  Speaker 6: Give them, and I quote from the brief, post-deprivation process,
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  Speaker 6: meaning we've taken away the due process rights first, and
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  Speaker 6: then we're going to give them some process that they
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  Speaker 6: just invented starting now. That's sort of the antithesis of
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  Speaker 6: what due process is supposed to be. It's supposed to
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  Speaker 6: happen before you take something away. So we are now
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  Speaker 6: seeing a notable divide and split between what Trump has
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  Speaker 6: been saying publicly for the last several days and what
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  Speaker 6: his lawyers are now saying in their late night brief.
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  Speaker 3: You've obviously taken a very close look at what the
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  Speaker 3: arguments made by the outlets, CNN, MSNOW, and Politico in
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  Speaker 3: the lawsuit that was first filed. When you look at that,
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  Speaker 3: how could the outlets respond in court to the Justice
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  Speaker 3: Department then today?
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  Speaker 2: So the media outlets argument is going to be fairly straightforward.
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  Speaker 2: This is viewpoint based discrimination.
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  Speaker 6: We are being treated differently by the government because of
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  Speaker 6: the substance of our reporting. And that's exactly what the
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  Speaker 6: First Amendment prohibits. That's, of course, the first argument. The
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  Speaker 6: other argument, again, is due process, which basically says you
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  Speaker 6: cannot take away liberty or property, including our right to
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  Speaker 6: access the White House and report and make a living
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  Speaker 6: without without giving us some chance to contest it.
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  Speaker 2: And that's not just a technicality, Kate.
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  Speaker 6: I should note that when Jim Acosta's press pass was
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  Speaker 6: taken away back in 2018 when he was with CNN,
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  Speaker 6: he actually won that case based on the due process argument.
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  Speaker 2: So watch for that one in court today as well.
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  Speaker 3: All right, much more to come for sure. Ellie, thank
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  Speaker 3: you so much. Let's get to CNN's chief media analyst,
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  Speaker 3: Brian Stelter. He's tracking this one. Brian, what else are
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  Speaker 3: you picking up from this new court filing from the
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  Speaker 3: administration overnight?
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  Speaker 2: This is a.
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  Speaker 5: Far more aggressive response than we've seen in past efforts
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  Speaker 5: by Trump to ban members of the media, and it
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  Speaker 5: is now going to be tested in court later today.
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  Speaker 5: The Justice Department says that these news outlets can be
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  Speaker 5: shut out from areas of the White House at the
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  Speaker 5: president's will. It says that the White House and access there,
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  Speaker 5: access to the White House is, quote, a privilege, not
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  Speaker 5: a right, in spite of First Amendment protections around press
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  Speaker 5: freedom and numerous court rulings against viewpoint discrimination. And the
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  Speaker 5: government response, maybe most importantly, is pointing to recent coverage
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  Speaker 5: of the Iran war and Trump's ballroom construction in order
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  Speaker 5: to argue that the coverage could amount to a national
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  Speaker 5: security risk that justifies the ban. Here is one of
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  Speaker 5: the key quotes from the government's response to the CNN
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  Speaker 5: MSNOW Politico lawsuit. It says, quote, The president has found
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  Speaker 5: that plaintiffs have engaged in a number of reporting incidents
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  Speaker 5: that have threatened national security. Such reporting directly raises national
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  Speaker 5: security concerns.
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  Speaker 2: National security.
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  Speaker 5: That's going to be the defense that the government's going
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  Speaker 5: to push today at this hearing at 3.30 p.m. Eastern
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  Speaker 5: time in Washington. You know, I want us to remember
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  Speaker 5: that last Friday when the president suddenly announced this ban
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  Speaker 5: and he talked about it in the Oval Office, he
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  Speaker 5: generically claimed this was about negative coverage, supposedly fake stories
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  Speaker 5: that he didn't like. He did not cite any supposed
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  Speaker 5: security concerns back then. But national security is the president's
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  Speaker 5: new favorite go-to message whenever he is making a decision
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  Speaker 5: that's highly controversial. Think about the ballroom and his claim
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  Speaker 5: that that's now a military center with drones and weapons
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  Speaker 5: on top, and also a bunker down below, which we
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  Speaker 5: know is under construction because CNN's reported that. Think about
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  Speaker 5: the art across the Potomac in Northern Virginia. He continually
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  Speaker 5: cites national security to try to push through items that
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  Speaker 5: he wants, or in this case, a ban that he
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  Speaker 5: wants to defend. But the president has repeatedly said he
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  Speaker 5: expects he will lose in court today, or at least
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  Speaker 5: signal that he expects that, because he's been attacking the
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  Speaker 5: Trump-appointed judge who's been assigned to the case. So we
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  Speaker 5: will probably learn more later today during this hearing. It's
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  Speaker 5: possible the judge will rule right away, or certainly in
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  Speaker 5: the coming days, Kate, we're going to find out if
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  Speaker 5: the court is going to let this stand.
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  Speaker 3: All right, Brian, thank you so much for the context.