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Marco Rubio defends Trump’s ban on media outlets from White House, arguing police or soldiers are not ‘kicking down the doors’
NBC News • • nation
Key Points:
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the Trump administration's decision to ban CNN, MSNBC, and Politico from working inside the White House, emphasizing that the outlets were not being shut down or arrested but merely barred from the workspace.
- The ban represents President Trump's most severe action to restrict access for media organizations critical of his administration, prompting the three outlets to sue the administration for violating their First Amendment and due process rights.
- Major networks, including NBC News, have withheld TV pool coverage of the president in protest, although coverage of other officials like Rubio has continued, with CNN providing pool coverage of the secretary.
- Rubio stated that the banned outlets could still cover the White House but would not have desks inside, reflecting the administration's view that these outlets have shown bias and thus do not have the right to be embedded within the White House building.
- The lawsuit claims the ban unlawfully retaliates against protected newsgathering and speech by excluding the outlets from a nonpublic forum for improper reasons.
