politics
What We Know About CNN, MS Now Access to White House Dinner
Journalists from CNN and MS Now were kept out of Thursday night's White House state dinner for Chinese president Xi Jinping, hours after a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to restore their press access, according to The Guardian.
What did the judge actually order?
US district judge Timothy Kelly issued an early-morning order on September 24, 2026, requiring the administration to return White House press badges to journalists from CNN, MS Now and Politico, the Guardian reported. Kelly had appeared skeptical of the administration's arguments during a Wednesday hearing, and lawyers for the three outlets told the court the White House had already "repeatedly violated" his overnight directive before the order was even formalized in writing.
Who got access, and who didn't, on Thursday?
About one hour before Xi's scheduled arrival, the White House told CNN it could send a photojournalist and an audio technician, but not the reporter and producer who make up its editorial team, CNN reported per the Guardian. MS Now's White House reporter, Laura Barrón-López, applied for credentials to cover Xi's arrival and was turned away despite the court order, according to the network's own account cited by the Guardian. When Barrón-López asked a staffer why she was denied entry, the staffer told her to "talk to Steven" — an apparent reference to White House communications director Steven Cheung, MS Now reported.
How did other networks respond?
Xi arrived for the dinner with his wife, Peng Liyuan, and the White House streamed the arrival live on YouTube. None of the major US television networks aired their own live broadcast video of the arrival, a decision the Guardian described as solidarity with CNN, which sits in the broadcast pool rotation that covers White House events for the industry.
Why were these outlets banned in the first place?
CNN, MS Now and Politico were barred from the White House last week in a ban Trump has attributed to what he calls overly negative coverage of his presidency, per the Guardian's reporting. That ban prompted the legal challenge that led to Kelly's Wednesday hearing and Thursday order.
Did the journalists get in at all on Thursday?
Earlier Thursday, before the state dinner, journalists from all three organizations were granted access to the White House after days of being barred from the building, the Guardian reported. Earlier attempts that same week to enter had failed. The dinner-specific denials came after that partial restoration, meaning the same outlets that regained general access in the morning were still blocked from a specific marquee event by evening.
What happens next?
The Guardian's reporting does not specify a follow-up hearing date or sanctions motion as of Thursday evening, September 24. Lawyers for CNN, MS Now and Politico had already flagged violations of Kelly's order to the court once this week, which suggests further litigation over compliance is likely if the dinner exclusions are treated as a second breach of the same order.
Quotags is A quote-card app first shipped in 2013. Version 2.0 is returning soon — do not install an old binary.
Questions
Did the court order force the White House to let CNN and MS Now into the state dinner?
The order required the administration to return press badges to journalists from CNN, MS Now and Politico, but the Guardian reported both outlets were still denied dinner-specific access hours later.
Why were CNN, MS Now and Politico banned from the White House?
The Trump administration imposed the ban last week, which Trump has attributed to what he calls overly negative coverage of his presidency, according to the Guardian.