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President Donald Trump lashed out at a CNN journalist Tuesday morning at the United Nations, telling her, "You should not be here covering me," as the Department of Justice prepares to defend in federal court his ban on that media outlet, MS NOW and Politico from the White House. CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins had asked Trump about a new poll that found two-thirds of Americans do not think the U.S. is winning its war with Iran. "When will it end?" Collins asked the president. "So it's an honor to be here. I'm surprised that CNN is here covering me," Trump told reporters as he gestured at Collins, before he entered the General Assembly in New York to address that body. Collins interjected, "The United Nations allowed us in here, sir." "You should not be here," Trump told Collins. "You should not be here covering me. You said you weren't going to cover me." After Trump left, Collins later noted on air, "We never said we were never going to cover the president." "We will continue to cover the president despite their efforts to block CNN from the White House grounds," she said. Trump last Friday said he was banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, citing what he called false stories about him and his administration. Trump has frequently criticized news coverage of him and did not point to specific stories. That ban took effect Saturday morning, when Secret Service officers at the White House took press passes from journalists from those three outlets when they arrived to work there. On Monday, the three outlets filed a lawsuit against Trump in U.S. District Court in Washington, asking a judge to block the president's ban and restore their access to the White House. The suit alleges Trump violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the Constitution's Due Process Clause in summarily barring the outlets. "We are filing a lawsuit today to protect our First Amendment rights and defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes," the outlets said in a joint statement on Monday. Also Monday, the five-member consortium of TV news networks that rotates pool coverage of the White House said four of those networks would suspend pool coverage ahead of Trump's trip to New York because the White House was not allowing CNN to act as the pool as was originally scheduled. It's not clear if that suspension will continue when Trump returns to Washington and another outlet is scheduled to act as the White House TV pool. The consortium, which includes ABC News, CBS News, Fox News and NBC News, in addition to CNN, provides video of Trump events to other media outlets for their use. The suspension of pool coverage does not change how CNN or the other networks separately cover Trump's visit to New York and the UN. Kelly, the Trump-appointed judge assigned to handle the lawsuit challenging his media ban, has ordered the Department of Justice to respond to the outlets' request for an injunction against the ban on Tuesday. Kelly scheduled a teleconference hearing on the request for Wednesday. Trump told reporters on Tuesday that he expected Kelly to rule against him and asked whether he would let the outlets back into the White House if the judge ordered it. "It probably will, because this is a judge who's not a particularly fair judge," Trump said of Kelly. In November 2018, Kelly ordered the White House to restore the press pass of then-CNN correspondent Jim Acosta, whose credentials had been revoked after a contentious exchange with Trump. MS NOW reported Tuesday that it had obtained talking points the White House had sent congressional Republicans about Trump's ban of the outlets. Talking points are designed to be used as a response to questions from journalists about a specific topic. Among other things, the talking points say, "No president has been more transparent or offered more of his time to the press," and, "the First Amendment protects their right to publish; it does not entitle certain outlets and members of the press to a hard pass, briefing room seat, or place in the press pool." A "hard pass" is a long-term press credential for journalists who regularly cover the White House. "Fabricating facts or reporting verifiable falsehoods from inside the White House complex is an intentional breach of professional decorum and it is severely disruptive to the mission and purpose of the White House," another talking point says. Disclosure: CNBC and MS NOW are divisions of Versant Media.
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