White House Press Aide Swears CNN Badges Were Back On by 9:07 a.m. Thursday

The White House's director of press operations, Micah Stopperich, said in a sworn statement filed with the court Thursday afternoon that her team was notified at 7:10 a.m. to restore access for CNN, MS NOW and Politico journalists and began reinstating badges at 7:25 a.m. She said the Secret Service indicated the passes were reactivated as of 9:07 a.m., and that confiscated badges were dropped off at the building entrance just before 10 a.m., according to the filing.

The filing landed after reporters from all three outlets were turned away from the grounds before 9 a.m. EDT, The Hill reported, hours after U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly ordered the administration to restore their credentials immediately.

Why it matters

The statement details how the administration says it handled the order, which the White House has not otherwise publicly addressed. Whether the early refusals were a processing delay or a violation of the court's order is now a question before the judge, raised in a letter from the outlets' own attorney.

Key points

• Stopperich said badges were reactivated by 9:07 a.m. and confiscated passes were returned before 10 a.m.
• Attorney Theodore Boutrous told the court the White House had "repeatedly violated" the order and asked for an emergency hearing.
• CNN's reporter and producer and MS NOW's Laura Barrón-López were still kept from Xi Jinping's state dinner arrival that evening.

Timothy Kelly's Order and the Morning Refusals

Kelly, a Trump appointee, issued the ruling early Thursday, and it lasts two weeks, The Hill reported. In the eight-page decision, the judge wrote that the reporters "did not receive an opportunity to be heard" before their credentials were revoked.

CNN said reporter Betsy Klein and a photojournalist were refused entry early Thursday while a producer got in with a pass, according to The Hill. Politico said its reporter "was denied access" and his credentials were "confiscated," and MS NOW said its reporter was blocked as well. The Hill noted the timing left open the possibility that the ruling had not yet been processed.

Theodore Boutrous and the Emergency Hearing Request

Theodore Boutrous, an attorney for the outlets, wrote to the court later Thursday morning asking for an emergency hearing "as soon as possible," saying the outlets' lawyers had contacted Justice Department attorneys and had not heard back, according to his letter.

"And time is of the essence —CNN is scheduled to be the television pool this evening for President Xi Jinping's visit to the White House," Boutrous wrote. "Defendants have already repeatedly violated the Court's Order."

Lawyers for the three news organizations wrote in a brief, cited by The Guardian, that Secret Service agents had confiscated the hard passes of journalists whose badges had not been taken before. The White House has not commented on the ruling, The Hill reported.

Xi Jinping's State Dinner and Laura Barrón-López

About an hour before Xi's scheduled arrival, the White House told CNN it could cover the event with only a photojournalist and audio technician, leaving out its reporter and producer, CNN reported, according to The Guardian. MS NOW said Barrón-López was kept from covering the arrival despite applying for credentials, and a staffer told her to "talk to Steven," apparently meaning communications director Steven Cheung.

None of the major U.S. networks carried live video of the arrival, in solidarity with CNN, The Guardian reported.

The badges were revoked Saturday after Trump ordered the ban over the outlets' "constant 'reporting' FAKE NEWS," and the organizations sued, The Guardian reported. Justice Department lawyers argued the ban was necessary for national security reasons, but Kelly found the outlets were likely to succeed on their due process claim.