*US Denies Visa To Iranian President’s Delegation To UNGA
Three news outlets, CNN, MS NOW, and Politico, said they were suing the Trump administration to protect their First Amendment rights after President Donald Trump’s announcement that he would ban them from the White House’s building grounds.
The First Amendment protects five core freedoms from government interference: religion, speech, the press, assembly, and the right to petition the government.
The three news outlets said they had notified the government that they were filing their lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of Columbia and could see emergency hearings in the case as soon as this week, according to CNN.
Since their ban, reporters and camera crews for the three organizations have been barred from entering the White House building.
On Saturday, reporters and cameramen of the affected outlets were halted from entering the building to cover events and had their official press pass confiscated by US Secret Service agents.
A CNN crew slated to accompany Trump to New York today was reportedly cancelled.
All three news outlets hinted at legal action, saying they would vigorously defend their First Amendment rights.
“Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists’ credentials because it objected to our reporting,” the outlets said in a joint statement posted on X.
“Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference,” they noted.
Hours after the three news outlets announced their intentions to file the lawsuit, Trump took to social media to defend his action.
“The White House is not instituting an assault on the Free Press, something which I cherish,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
He continued: “It is instituting an assault on the FAKE NEWS, something that has grown like Cancer in our beloved United States of America. It is corrupt, purposeful, pervasive, fully coordinated, and totally out of control. It is a threat to our National Security, and must be stopped, NOW!”
While announcing the ban last Friday, Trump had warned that similar sanction will befall other media houses if they toed the path of the trio affected.
…Denies Visa To Iranian President’s Delegation To UNGA
Meanwhile, in another development, the US has refused to issue visas for members of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s delegation, including his communications team, for this week’s trip to the UN General Assembly (UNGA), Iranian state media reported.
Pezeshkian will be the highest-ranking Iranian official to enter the US since the Middle East war began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February this year.
“In an unprecedented hostile move by the US government, Trump has denied US visas to certain members of the president’s high-level delegation, including members of his communications team,” state news agency IRNA reported.
The Mehr news agency also carried the story, citing a spokesperson for the Iranian presidency, adding that Pezeshkian will address the UN General Assembly on Wednesday.
