Federal Judge Timothy Kelly has ordered the administration of President Donald Trump to temporarily reinstate CNN, MS NOW and Politico’s access to the White House. This comes as after the media organisations were banned from the premises by Trump.

In Thursday’s ruling, Kelly found the revocation of reporters’ press badges was done without “constitutionally adequate due process.”

The ruling – which comes just hours before Trump is set to receive Chinese leader Xi Jinping – means journalists should now be able to return to work at the White House complex.

Some CNN staff, however, were unable to gain access to the White House early Thursday morning. CNN reporter Betsy Klein and a photojournalist were denied access to the White House grounds in the 6:00 a.m. hour. There was no reason provided for the refusal.

But one CNN producer was able to enter the White House using their pass after 6:00 a.m. It was not immediately clear why the person had been able to access the building.

Kelly said overnight that the government’s arguments “offer little to back up their asserted national security interest.” After the ban went into effect, Trump and his lawyers said the outlets had their access revoked because their past reporting raised national security concerns.

“For one thing, nothing in the record that predates this suit suggests that the revocation of Plaintiffs’ hard passes was motivated by national security concerns,” Kelly wrote. “Certainly, that is not what President Trump said when he announced that he was ‘banning’ Plaintiffs from the White House —instead, he focused on the alleged lack of truthfulness and negativity of Plaintiffs’ reporting.”

Courtesy: CNN