Trump has denied access to CNN, Politico, and MS NOW. Now a Fox News correspondent is asking him to lift the ban: ‘Violates the First Amendment’

White House access for reporters from CNN, Politico, and MS NOW has been cut off by President Donald Trump. Jacqui Heinrich, a senior White House correspondent at Fox News and president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, is now pressing him to reverse that decision. She said the ban “violates” the First Amendment.

Her statement came out on Saturday, a day after Trump said the three outlets would be barred. On Saturday morning, the administration put the restriction in place and kept those journalists off White House grounds.

Heinrich said, “Today’s action revoking access for journalists from CNN, POLITICO, and MSNOW violates the First Amendment.” She also said the ban hurts the American public.

Heinrich says courts have held the White House cannot deny journalist access based on coverage

She warned that the effects would not stop with those three organizations. A rule used to shut out one news outlet over its coverage, she said, could later be used against any other outlet. She said the public must be able to examine elected officials through a free and independent press, even when officials dislike the coverage.

Heinrich said, “That’s why courts have repeatedly held that once the White House provides access to journalists, it cannot deny that access arbitrarily or based on the content of their reporting. The WHCA calls on the administration to immediately restore our colleagues’ access.”

Heinrich covers the White House for Fox News and co-hosts The Sunday Briefing with Peter Doocy. Heinrich’s call for open press access comes amid ongoing tensions, such as when Trump publicly humiliated CNN reporter Kristen Holmes during a White House briefing.  

She took over as WHCA president from CBS News reporter Weijia Jiang in mid-July, a week before the delayed White House Correspondents’ Dinner. The original April dinner was disrupted when a shooter entered the Washington, D.C. venue and tried to kill Trump and several people in his administration.

Trump has spoken against Heinrich more than once this year. In March, he said she was doing an “absolutely terrible” job. Trump’s public remarks about journalists have often been sharp, as when he called Fox News anchor Shannon Bream ‘milktoast’ and criticized the network for airing outdated ballroom photos. At the correspondents’ dinner, he later called her “so beautiful,” but also “so nasty.” She answered that remark with a shrug.

She made her call to drop the ban at about the same time MS NOW chief national reporter Peter Alexander said on air that Trump issued it to “rile up” his MAGA base and draw attention away from the many “failures” of his second term.