Judge orders White House to restore press passes for CNN, Politico and MS NOW

The temporary restraining order will remain in effect for 14 days.

ByAlex Ederson and Jon Haworth

September 24, 2026

A federal judge has granted CNN, Politico and MS NOW a temporary restraining order requiring the White House to restore the outlets’ hard-pass press credentials.

The order requires the defendants, excluding President Donald Trump, as well as their agents and representatives, to “immediately return, reinstate, and restore” the White House hard-pass press credentials held by employees of CNN, MS NOW and Politico.

Judge Timothy Kelly granted the media organizations’ request in the ongoing caseCable News Networks, Inc. v. Trump after their credentials were revoked on Sept. 18, according to the court order.

The temporary restraining order will remain in effect for 14 days, unless otherwise ordered by the court.

Kelly expressed skepticism about the Trump administration’s argument that the stories it cited as justification for revoking the outlets’ press credentials raised national security concerns.

Kelly described the stories identified by the administration as “routine” and said he was “skeptical” that the government’s stated interest in safeguarding national security was the actual motivation for revoking the hard passes. He also noted that Trump did not mention national security concerns when he announced the ban.

"Nothing in the record that predates this suit suggests that the revocation of Plaintiffs’ hard passes was motivated by national security concerns," Kelly said in the filing. "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."

https://abcnews.com/US/judge-orders-white-house-restore-press-passes-cnn/story?id=136709442

Timothy Mellon, a G.O.P. Billionaire, Pulls Back His Money From Senate Republicans

Sept. 23, 2026, 8:41 p.m. ET.1/2

Timothy Mellon, one of the party’s biggest donors in 2024, has so far withheld his midterm donations for Republican senators because he is unhappy about the failure to pass a key Trump priority.

One of the Republican Party’s biggest donors has sharply reduced his giving ahead of the midterm elections, especially to Senate Republicans, a decision driven largely by the party’s failure to pass a far-reaching bill of voting restrictions.

The donor, Timothy Mellon, a reclusive Wyoming billionaire who is a grandson of the Gilded Age industrialist Andrew Mellon, gave nearly $200 million to support President Trump and other Republicans in the 2024 election. Only Elon Musk donated more.

Two years later, Mr. Mellon has given just $3 million or so in publicly disclosed donations to Republican candidates or groups. He also made a $20 million donation last month to help House Republicans, according to two people briefed on the contribution, which will not be disclosed until the next financial reports.

But Mr. Mellon has given nothing publicly so far to support Senate Republicans this fall — a move that has been conspicuous in the party’s financial circles, and shows how some influential Republicans remain angry about the party’s inability this summerto pass the voting legislation, called the SAVE America Act.

The electoral significance of Mr. Mellon’s sudden drop-off in giving is uncertain.

Republicans have a broad financial advantage in the midterms, with Mr. Trump’s super PAC and other megadonors shoveling tens of millions of dollars into key races.

Still, Mr. Mellon’s tightfistedness illustrates the unexpected and acrimonious fallout inside the Republican Party after its failed push to pass the voting bill.

The legislation, pushed hard by Mr. Trump, would severely limit voting by mail, impose a nationwide voter identification requirement nationwide and require proof of citizenship to register to vote. Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the majority leader, supported the measure but said the “math” was not there to overcome a Democratic filibuster. Ultimately, the effort sputtered out.

Mr. Mellon’s team has told fellow Republicans that he is not backing Senate Republicans because of their inability to pass the voting legislation, according to two people briefed on the conversations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to disclose the private discussions.

Mr. Mellon actually received a recent solicitation letter in the mail seeking to raise money for Senate Republicans, according to one of the people. That’s not typically how megadonors like Mr. Mellon are courted.An angry Mr. Mellon personally wrote back that he would not be donating because of Senate Republicans’ inability to pass the bill, the person said.

https://archive.ph/VAH7d

>>25071891

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A representative for Mr. Mellon declined to comment.

Mr. Mellon, 84, is seen in Republican financial circles as a mysterious, eccentric figure. Fund-raisers describe him as almost comically inaccessible, even compared with others in his stratosphere of wealth. He is close to Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the majority leader, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary, but few other Republicans know him well.

Mr. Mellon burst onto the scene in 2018, when he donated $10 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund, the main super PAC for House Republicans. Two years later, he gave over $70 million to back Republicans, including $20 million to support Mr. Trump.

During the last midterms, in 2022, Mr. Mellon donated about $42 million. He truly made his mark in 2024, when he gave about $197 million to Republicans overall and became the single largest disclosed donor to Mr. Trump’s super PAC, MAGA Inc. Mr. Mellon cut two $50 million checks to the group.

Timothy Mellon’s campaign contributions

$3.1 mil. Disclosed so far

It’s a very different story in 2026.

After making an average of 28 donations in each of the last four election cycles, Mr. Mellon has made only five publicly disclosed contributions in the 2026 cycle so far. He donated nearly $2 million in private stock to MAGA Inc.; $1 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund; and smaller five-figure checks to three other conservative-aligned super PACs. Two of those groups backed candidates for the Senate who criticized Mr. Thune and lost their Republican nominating fights.

Campaign finance reports show only public donations through June 30 for some federal committees, and through Aug. 30 for other committees. More donations from Mr. Mellon to Republicans could be revealed in the coming weeks. His $20 million donation in August to the Congressional Leadership Fund, the group backing House Republicans, is set to be disclosed in an F.E.C. report by Oct. 15. The super PAC declined to comment.

Notably absent so far: any donations to help elect Senate Republican nominees this fall. In 2020, Mr. Mellon gave $30 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, the party’s main super PAC for Senate candidates.

In 2022 and 2024, he donated about $30 million combined to other super PACs that focused largely or exclusively on the Senate.

Fund-raisers for Republican Senate candidates have noticed Mr. Mellon’s disappearing act this cycle. Beginning last year, aides allied with Mr. Thune sought to arrange a sit-down between the majority leader and Mr. Mellon, to no avail, according to two of the people briefed on the relationship. A spokesman for Mr. Thune did not respond to a request for comment.

A person close to the Senate Leadership Fund said that even before the SAVE America Act failed, the group had never expected a check from him this cycle.

And it is not as if the Senate Leadership Fund in desperate need of money: As of the last financial reports, it had raised nearly $80 million more than its Democratic counterpart. Other billionaires have filled the void, including Miriam Adelson, who has donated $30 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, and Stephen Schwarzman, who gave $17 million to the group.

Mr. Mellon has found other things to spend his money on.The billionaire, who reportedly appeared this spring at a White House event and toasted Mr. Trump, donated $130 million to the U.S. government to help pay troops during the federal shutdown last year. And he has also transferred a $5.5 million estate to an anti-vaccine group founded by Mr. Kennedy….

https://archive.ph/VAH7d

CNN, MS NOW and Politico go back to court after reporters were denied access to the White House despite judge’s order

Updated: 10:21 AM EDT, Thu September 24, 20261/3

CNN, MS NOW and Politico filed anemergency request for a hearing Thursday morning after reporters were refused access to the White House despite a court order.

Federal Judge Timothy Kelly ordered the Trump administration to temporarily reinstate CNN, MS NOW and Politico’s access to the White Houseafter they were banned from the premises by President Donald Trump.

In his 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 welcome Chinese leader Xi Jinping — means journalists should now be able to return to work at the White House complex, but some staffers from all three outlets were refused entry.

CNN reporter Betsy Klein and a photojournalist were denied access to the White House grounds despite multiple attempts, including one after 9:00 a.m. 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.

Reporters from MS NOW and Politico were also barred from entering the building early Thursday morning, according to the outlets.

The White House has provided no details as to why the journalists were not admitted.

Kelly ordered the Justice Department to respond by 12:30 p.m. ET.

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.”

“And even the justifications provided to Plaintiffs after this case was filed are ambiguous about the true purpose of the revocations: while Defendants’ letters to Plaintiffs mention national security concerns, they purport to identify reporting that ‘threatened national security and/or spread falsehoods,’ leaving open the possibility that all the stories fall into the later bucket, rather than the former.”

As for due process, the Trump administration didn’t notify the reporters of an opportunity to appeal his decision until after the passes were confiscated, the judge noted.

“The ‘general rule’ is that ‘individuals must receive notice and an opportunity to be heard before the Government deprives them’ of a constitutionally protected interest,” Kelly wrote in his ruling citing case law.

Kelly’s temporary restraining order is in effect for 14 days.

https://lite.cnn.com/2026/09/24/politics/trump-press-lawsuit-ruling-white-house-access

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His decision isn’t immediately able to be appealed, the judge noted. In the opinion, the judge set up a plan over the next two weeks for the news outlets and the Trump administration to continue making arguments and submitting to him evidence.

That plan — for which the judge hasn’t yet specified specific deadlines or other hearings — would likely result in a more robust opinion than the emergency decision Kelly made early Thursday morning.

Trump announced the ban of the three outlets in a social media post Friday, writing that he was kicking the news outlets out “as a result of their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS!” and adding “Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow.”

The three news outlets sued, requesting the ban be paused or blocked entirely. In court filings and during a hearing Wednesday, an attorney for the outlets argued the ban contradicted prior court rulings, violated due process and was issued merely because of Trump’s disdain for the journalists.

Attorneys for the administration countered, saying that Trump’s decision did include an appeals process, pointing to the letters that were received by the outlets after the ban went into effect.

Responding to Thursday’s ruling, Ted Boutrous, the lawyer representing the news outlets, told CNN: “This is a strong ruling vindicating freedom of the press, due process and the rule of law. We greatly appreciate the court’s swift action.”

CNN has reached out to the Justice Department and White House for comment.

During Wednesday’s hearing on the motion for a temporary restraining order, Justice Department attorney Michael Velchik argued that CNN, MS NOW and Politico had endangered national security with their reporting and that Trump has the right to decide who can have access to the White House.

Boutrous said during the hearing that “the first mention of national security in this case” occurred days after the announced ban and following the current lawsuit against the administration. Boutrous said it seemed as if “a light bulb went off” in the administration to adopt the national security argument to justify the ban post hoc.

Boutrous also argued the news organizations were only provided letters from the White House outlining why they had been banned days after the ban was announced and following their lawsuit.

In the ruling, Kelly acknowledged that the outlets “did not receive notice and an opportunity to be heard” before their hard passes were revoked.

He wrote that the record was bereft of any relevant “formally articulated standards” in place before any of the conduct for which the hard passes were revoked.

https://lite.cnn.com/2026/09/24/politics/trump-press-lawsuit-ruling-white-house-access

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“One standard Defendants appear to offer—reflected in letters they sent to Plaintiffs on September 22, 2026, identifying their objectionable reporting—is so vague it hardly does the trick,” Kelly said, referring to Trump administration’s allegation that one of the outlets “exhibited behavior in violation of the standards of professionalism and decorum expected of those given access to the White House Complex.”

Boutrous also noted during Wednesday’s hearing that only one CNN story cited by the administration to highlight why the outlets were being kicked out was written by a reporter with access to the White House and that the stories cited “are just garden variety reporting.”

Kelly, in his ruling, made note of this, and that the CNN story cited as a national security concern — a report about the planned rebuilding of a bunker under the East Wing — was published months before reporter Klein’s press pass was renewed this summer.

“None of Defendants’ arguments convince the Court that Plaintiffs are not likely to succeed on their due process claim,” Kelly wrote.

Moreover, Kelly wrote that the plaintiffs had shown “that they are likely to suffer irreparable harm absent a temporary restraining order,” and that it would be in the public’s interest to reinstate reporters’ press badges.

“Plaintiffs—and the public—have an abiding interest in maintaining the status quo ante given the importance of the free press, which ‘stands as one of the great interpreters between the government and the people,’” the ruling said.

At the start of Wednesday’s hearing, Kelly noted that he had presided over a similar case in 2018, when Trump booted then-CNN correspondent Jim Acosta after a heated exchange between he and the president, and had to abide by past precedent in the court.

“There is a due process claim and a due process issue that seems to me the first stop in figuring out how to resolve the motion,” Kelly said at the hearing.

Kelly’s ruling Thursday said that the circumstances here “are not so ‘extraordinary’ as to permit deviation” from the principles of due process “that a deprivation of liberty ‘be preceded by notice and opportunity for hearing.’”

TV networks stand with CNN

Thursday’s ruling means the television pool, of which CNN is one of five members, could choose to resume live and taped coverage of presidential events — though the organizers have yet to share any updated guidance.

Under a longstanding arrangement, the five networks take turns filming the president and providing live footage to one another and the wider press corps. Local TV stations, newspaper websites and media outlets worldwide rely on that coverage.

In a show of solidarity, the five major networks said they would not be covering the president’s speeches and appearances, after Trump barred CNN from fulfilling its assigned White House pool duties on Monday.

“The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting,” ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC said in a rare joint statement. KEK

https://lite.cnn.com/2026/09/24/politics/trump-press-lawsuit-ruling-white-house-access

Ex-bodyguard in Kyrsten Sinema ‘homewrecker’ case accused of wrecking her Cave Creek home

David Iversen

The former bodyguard whose affair with Kyrsten Sinema is at the center of a North Carolina “homewrecker” lawsuit has been charged with a felony, accused of throwing nearly two dozen paintings into the pool at her Cave Creek home.

Matthew Ammel, 39, was arrested Sept. 17 by Maricopa County Sheriff’s deputies on a charge of aggravated criminal damage, court records show.

Deputies took him into custody as he was released from a mental health facility.

A probable cause statement identifies the complainant only as Kyrsten, Ammel’s former girlfriend.

She told deputies that on Aug. 30, while she was away, Ammel demanded that she post a video to her X account and threatened to destroy a painting every 10 minutes until she did.

When she refused, he threw about 22 paintings into the pool, spray-painted another and smashed liquor bottles and a mirror, according to the statement.

Deputies said surveillance video showed Ammel destroying property. The paintings were valued at $123,015, with total damage estimated at more than $200,000.

Ammel has since been released from custody. A preliminary hearing is set for Oct. 5.

Kyrsten Sinema ‘homewrecker’ lawsuit moves forward

His ex-wife, Heather Ammel, is suing Sinema under North Carolina’s alienation-of-affection law, commonly known as the “homewrecker” law. A federal judge ruled Sept. 4 that the case can proceed there. In a Sept. 18 filing, Sinema denied most of the allegations and requested a jury trial.

An initial pretrial conference in the homewrecker lawsuit is set for Oct. 22

https://ktar.com/arizona-news/kyrsten-sinema-ex-bodyguard-matthew-ammel-arrested-cave-creek

BREAKING: Same Trump-Appointed DC Judge Who Saved Jim Acosta Just ORDERED the White House to Hand Hard Passes Back to Fake News CNN, MS NOW, and Politico

By Jim Hᴏft Sep. 24, 2026

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has ordered the Trump administration to restore White House access for journalists from CNN, MS NOW, and Politico, ruling that President Donald Trump’s ban on the outlets was likely unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly, a Trump appointee from 2017 and the same judge who forced the White House to give CNN’s Jim Acosta his pass back in 2018, signed a Temporary Restraining Order in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The outlets only had to post a laughable $1 bond.

The order directs administration officials, excluding President Trump personally, and those acting with them to return and reinstate the affected passes. The order covers credentials revoked on or about September

The Gateway Pundit reported on Wednesday that Judge Kelly appeared skeptical during a hearing on Trump’s media ban.

A lawyer for the outlets accused the Trump Administration of banning the news organizations “completely out of the blue” and urged the judge to immediately restore their access.

“I think it is fair to say that process … wasn’t followed here, talking about predeprivation process,” Judge Kelly said, according to CNBC.

Judge Kelly concluded the hearing without issuing a ruling but said he will rule ‘soon.’

President Trump said he expects to lose the case even though it is assigned to one of his appointees.

“…We’ll go for appeal because Fake News people and publications that only write negatively, and who violate our National Security by writing false and defamatory stories with unknown “sources” shouldn’t be allowed access to the most important Office…” Trump said.

And he is right.

Early Thursday, Kelly’s ruling rests on the outlets’ Fifth Amendment due process claim. He found they were likely to show that their passes were revoked without prior notice or an opportunity to respond, and that the White House had not established clear standards beforehand for conduct that could lead to revocation.

The administration argued that the ban was justified by national security concerns. But Kelly said the record offered little factual support for that claim, including no explanation of how the cited reporting damaged national security or how restoring the passes would endanger it.

The ruling is temporary. The restraining order lasts 14 days while the case continues, and the court plans expedited briefing on whether to issue a preliminary injunction. The order requires the plaintiffs to post a $1 bond by October 1. It does not resolve the full lawsuit or finally decide every claim.

As The Gateway Pundit reported Friday, President Trump announced the ban on Truth Social:

I am proud to announce that, effective immediately, I am banning Fake News CNN, MSNOW (who recently changed their name from MSNBC due to lack of viewership and credibility!), and Politico (The recipients of an illegal and ridiculous $8 Million Dollar subscription, an All Time Record, directly from the United States Government, under Crooked Joe Biden, in order to keep them “alive.” Seems like corruption to me!), from the White House as a result of their constant “reporting” FAKE NEWS!

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/09/breaking-same-trump-appointed-dc-judge-who-saved/

US military spending $500M on ‘war-ready’ laser weapons — and zapping drones in Iran, along US border: experts

By Published Sep. 24, 2026, 6:00.1/2

Iranian citizens have witnessed some dazzling laser shows recently — but they’re not the kind you’d see at a Metallica concert.

The US military has been deploying lasers in the Strait of Hormuz to knock out regime hardware, taking out “drones and incoming cruise missiles at a much lower cost than using more expensive kinetic weapons like missiles,” the Department of War recently confirmed.

The US project to harness laser powerhas been 50 years in the making and outstrips the capabilities of any other military on Earth.

“We can very specifically track and target drones and put the spot exactly where we want it, [in order] to disable its sensors or kill [i.e. explode] the drone itself,” Mark Neice, president of Directed Energy Consultants, which works with the military, told The Post.

Laser technology works by drawing energy from generators or battery packs which is then converted into light particles called photons. The photons are then concentrated as a single beam, which is only visible under infrared light, not the naked eye. They heat the surface they are directed onto until it explodes or melts.

“It’s weaponized light that spends several seconds of what we call ‘dwell time’ on the target to bring it down,” said Jared Keller who puts out the newsletter Laser Wars.

“It now makes sense to actually take them outside of a laboratory and into real-world environments. The most significant [development] is the Army awarding a half-billion-dollar contract for building war-ready lasers [which] focus photons on a target to deliver catastrophic, destructive effects,” he added.

Somewhat surprisingly, the laser weapons are operated by soldiers using reconfigured Xbox game console controllers.

“The video games industry figured out what the best controller was and now the US military is saying, ‘Well, why reinvent the wheel with a specialized control system where you can just use an Xbox controller or something really similar to do the job?'”

“If you’ve shot a Spartan laser in ‘Halo’, you can probably fire [one of the cutting-edge weapons] in real life,” Keller claimed.

For recent advancements in laser technology, we can partly thank Mexican drug cartels. The Joint Task Force Southern Border has been testing the tech by shooting down drug-dealer drones sent from Mexico, with at least 11 downed so far.

“Anything we can do to eliminate the cartel threat, or even inconvenience them, is a plus. These look like they are being pretty effective and shooting down drones with lasers is not just a dream,” Brent Ziarnick, a senior fellow in defense studies at the American Foreign Policy Council, told The Post.

https://nypost.com/2026/09/24/us-news/us-military-spending-500m-on-war-ready-laser-weapons-experts/