Extract from ABC News
Despite a court ruling the day before, reporters were blocked by the secret service when trying to enter the White House grounds.
In short:
Reporters from Politico, MS Now and CNN have been granted access to the White House after initially being denied entry.
Judge Tim Kelly ordered access temporarily be restored and media passes given back immediately, but reporters remained blocked the following morning.
The three outlets requested an immediate court hearing.
The White House has reinstated journalists from CNN, MS Now and Politico after a federal judge deemed US President Donald Trump's ban of the three outlets likely unconstitutional and ordered their access immediately restored.
The midday reinstatement came after a chaotic few hours earlier on Thursday, local time, when the journalists remained blocked from entering the White House grounds.
That prompted the three news organisations to request an immediate hearing before US District Judge Tim Kelly, who issued his decision overnight.
Judge Kelly, acting in a lawsuit brought by CNN, MS Now and Politico on Monday, ordered a halt to Mr Trump's ban for 14 days in a press freedom case playing out over the last week.
Judge Kelly found that the revocation of the White House credentials of the journalists "likely violated their constitutional due process rights".
The judge was appointed by Mr Trump in 2017 during his first presidential term, also raised doubts about the US Justice Department's national security arguments for justifying the ban.
Judge Kelly noted Mr Trump had previously said the action was due to what the president alleged was false or negative coverage.
A banner depicting US President Donald Trump hangs on the US Department of Labor on the day US District Judge Tim Kelly holds an afternoon hearing. (Reuters: Nathan Howard)
Hours after the order was issued, CNN, MS Now and Politico told the judge they remained barred, and asked for the emergency hearing.
Politico said its reporter's credentials were confiscated. An MS Now reporter said she was blocked from the White House. CNN said some staff members were denied entry onto the grounds.
In response, the director of press operations at the White House, Micah Stopperich, said in a court filing the White House began the process of reinstating press badges for affected reporters at 7:25am.
"White House press team dropped badges at the entry gate for members of the press to pick up around 9:55am,"the filing said.
National security concerns
Mr Trump announced the ban last Friday in a post on social media.
The President said the outlets "shouldn't be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they're covering the President of the United States".
Mr Trump framed their reporting as a threat to US national security.
The three outlets sued Mr Trump and other members of his administration, saying the ban violated the US Constitution's First Amendment protections for free speech and a free press, as well as their due process rights.
A sign in support of news outlets is seen at the White House press room. (Reuters: Kevin Lamarque)
A coalition of press freedom groups and dozens of news organisations, including Reuters, later filed a legal brief supporting the three news outlets.
Judge Kelly ordered the Trump administration to immediately return the outlets' press passes and stop enforcing the ban for two weeks, rejecting the administration's stated national security concerns.
"The record lacks factual support for defendants' contention that the revocation of plaintiffs' hard passes will in fact protect national security or that national security will be endangered if the court orders their passes reinstated while this litigation proceeds." said Judge Kelly.
In a filing on Tuesday, the Justice Department accused the outlets of threatening national security with their coverage, citing stories about US missile stockpiles, construction of Mr Trump's White House ballroom and turnout at the recent Republican midterm convention.
In the wake of the ban, other members of the White House press pool of reporters who share resources to follow the US president's movements refused to record or disseminate his events until access was restored, acting in solidarity.
This occurred as Mr Trump spoke at the United Nations general assembly and hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington this week.
There were no TV pool cameras set up for Mr Xi's arrival on the White House's South Lawn Thursday morning.
Fox News, MS Now and CNN did not air the two leaders' arrival ceremony live.
The CNN booth at the White House after US President Donald Trump announced he would ban CNN, MS NOW, and Politico. (Reuters: Evan Vucci)
During Mr Trump's welcome of Xi to the White House, the president made a joke to photographers in the Oval Office about the Chinese having the friendliest press corporations.
Press tension
Although other presidential administrations have battled with the press, Mr Trump's campaign against the media has been unprecedented.
Up-ending decades of tradition, his White House had denied basic access to many major news organisations, launched personal attacks on journalists and filed multiple lawsuits against media outlets.
Mr Kelly's ruling came one day after an Iowa judge dismissed Mr Trump's 2024 lawsuit against the Des Moines Register newspaper and pollster J. Ann Selzer.
Mr Trump sued the Register, its parent company Gannett and Selzer over a poll published ahead of the 2024 US election that showed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris leading him in Iowa.
The President accused the newspaper and its longtime pollster of fraudulently misleading readers.
In his ruling Wednesday, Iowa District Judge Scott Beattie said the poll was legally protected speech.
Reuters
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