CNN and Politico blocked from White House hours after judge temporarily restores access – live

From 51s ago

News outlets banned from White House seek emergency hearing after being denied entry despite judge's order

Lawyers for the news outlets President Trump banned from the White House have requested an emergency hearing after several journalists were turned away from the building Thursday morning, in apparent defiance of a federal judge’s order to restore their access.

“This morning journalists from each of CNN, MS NOW, and POLITICO attempted to enter the White House and were turned away, and Secret Service agents confiscated the hard pass of journalists whose hard passes had not previously been confiscated,” a new court filing read.

Time, the request continued, is “of the essence. CNN is scheduled to the television pool this evening for President Xi Jinping’s visit to the White House.”

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Updated at 10.08 EDT

Key events

Mary Peltola, Democratic challenger for Alaska's Senate seat, berated, hurled slurs at staffers: report

The campaign of Mary Peltola, the former Democratic congresswoman gunning for a prized Republican-held Senate seat in Alaska, has been harmed by the former congresswoman’s alleged pattern of angry outbursts and viciously berating staff members, The New York Times reported on Wednesday evening.

The alleged behavior described in the Times story includes profane tirades, slurs hurled at staff members, and, on one occasion, Peltola shoving an aide.

Times interviews with staff members and text messages the outlet reviewed indicated that Peltola had on several occasions deployed slurs for gay people and people with intellectual disabilities, sometimes aimed at her staffers.

Lately, Peltola’s ire toward staff members has begun to take a toll on her campaign, the Times reported. The outlet heard from sources that the firing of a slate of longtime staffers days before the Alaska primary election was, in part, the product of another angry outburst by Peltola.

The dysfunction allegedly hindered Peltola’s office during her stint in Congress, contributing to an exceptionally high rate of staff turnover.

The Times, however, also found several sources who said they had nothing but positive experiences with Peltola while serving under her.

A spokesman for Peltola’s campaign disputed the conclusion that his boss had displayed any pattern of abuse toward staffers, while acknowledging that she had been grappling with the 2023 deaths of both her mother and her husband, which occurred in quick succession.

“Like any person who has gone through multiple personal tragedies in the span of a few months, Mary sometimes struggled to deal with her grief,” the spokesman, Harry Child, told the Times.

He continued: “Exaggerating and outright lying about moments from the hardest period of her life, and falsely presenting them as a pattern of behavior, is wrong.”

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Trump and Xi to talk AI and trade in major Washington meeting

Shannon Ho

Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping have plenty to cover when they sit down for talks Thursday at the White House.

The US and Chinese leaders are tackling issues like trade irritants, artificial intelligence safeguards and the war in Iran. Trump wants China to use its influence with Iran, while Xi seeks a halt to US arms sales to Taiwan.

A fragile trade truce had been set to expire in November, but the two countries agreed Wednesday to extend it for two months.

This is Xi’s first state visit to the US in more than a decade. Stick with us as we bring you the latest lines.

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Updated at 09.40 EDT

Israeli, Palestinian leaders set to address the UN, with Netanyahu expected to attack Mamdani

Taz Ali

The third day of the UN General Assembly’s annual gathering of world leaders is about to kick off in New York City today, with speeches from leaders on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, is expected to devote at least part of his address to attacking Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s progressive mayor who has labeled Netanyahu a war criminal and threatened to arrest him for his country’s killing of civilians in Gaza.

Michael Oren, the former Israeli ambassador, said he expected Netanyahu’s UN address to resemble a “campaign speech,” leveraging his feud with the mayor of the largest Jewish city outside of Israel to boost his political position at home.

“Maybe he’s thinking, ‘if I can attack Mamdani and attack the Iranians, somebody who was wavering between ‌voting for me and voting for (Gadi) Eisenkot may decide to vote for me’,” Oren told Reuters, referring to Netanyahu’s main political rival in next month’s Israeli general election.

In a video statement earlier this week, Netanyahu falsely accused Mamdani, New York City’s first Muslim mayor, of supporting Hamas and inciting riots against the city’s Jewish population.

Mamdani said earlier this year that he was looking into whether his office could arrest Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over alleged war crimes in Gaza, if he visited New York. But he later conceded that he did not have the legal authority to do so. The US is not a party to the ICC and does not recognize its authority.

Despite his criticism of the Israeli government and staunch support for Palestinian rights, Mamdani is reportedly not taking part in the protests against Netanyahu scheduled to take place in New York. The New York Times reported that he will instead be visiting an LGBTQ+ centre with the prime minister of the Netherlands.

The president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, will also be addressing the UN General Assembly via video. Like last year, Abbas was banned from entering the US by the Trump administration, with the State Department saying in a statement that the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) had “failed to live up to their commitments.”

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The news has been trickling in this morning from the White House reporters showing back up for work, but now it’s confirmed that all three outlets targeted in Trump’s White House press ban are saying they’re still being denied access to the building, after a judge’s order to let them back in.

We’ll see as the morning wears on whether that changes.

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Updated at 09.06 EDT

Politico, CNN, MS Now reporters blocked from White House despite judge's ruling

Yesterday evening, after briefly taking the case under consideration, a federal judge ordered the White House to temporarily restore access to CNN, MS NOW, and Politico, the three outlets the president banned from the building via a social media post last week.

White House security may not have gotten the memo, according to Thursday morning reports from the three news outlets involved. All three reported that they had journalists turned away from the White House early in the morning.

Politico wrote this morning that a reporter showing up for work was blocked from entering the White House on Thursday and had his press credentials seized. The alleged denial of entry came after a federal judge instructed the Trump administration last night to allow the news outlets their usual access while their lawsuit against the president over the ban moves forward.

CNN reported that some its staff – including reporter Betsy Klein and a photojournalist – were barred from entering the White House early on Thursday around 6a.m., without receiving a reason for being denied entry. However, the channel said one of its producers gained entry to the building using their pass.

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.

The Associated Press also reported that a CNN journalist told the outlet she was denied access to the White House on Thursday morning.

CNN said would it continue trying to gain access to the building as the day goes on.

MS Now also reported on Thursday mo