Trump bragged about his ‘ban on the free press.’ That’s why I’m suing him.

Dan Froomkin, an independent journalist who edits Press Watch and Heads Up News, has joined a lawsuit contending that President Donald Trump's treatment of the White House press corps violates the First Amendment. Filed Monday by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and Yale Law School's Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic, the suit also names Kenneth Roth, the former executive director of Human Rights Watch; Yale historian Beverly Gage; and Benjamin Wittes, editor-in-chief of Lawfare. The plaintiffs say they depend on the pool's reporting, and that fear of losing access discourages hard questions, according to MS NOW.

Froomkin points to recent punishments. MS NOW, CNN and Politico were barred from the White House, sued, and won a tentative restoration of access from a federal judge, though Trump is appealing on national security grounds. CNN and Politico remain excluded from Air Force One pool duty, and Andrew Feinberg of The Independent was removed from the plane Thursday. Froomkin cites an ABC News lawyer who says the network's news division has softened its election coverage ahead of the midterms for fear of retaliation.

Summarized by PolitiKool from MS NOW’s reporting. Read the full story at MS NOW →