Judge hears arguments on Trump White House media ban, hopes to rule 'soon'

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., heard arguments on Wednesday on President Donald Trump's controversial ban of three media outlets from the White House.Judge Timothy Kelly ended the hearing without immediately ruling on a request by the outlets — MS NOW, CNN, Politico — to block Trump from continuing to bar them from the White House. "I'll consider what you told me today. I'll try and get you an answer as soon as I can," Kelly told a lawyer for the outlets and a Justice Department attorney who defended the ban during the teleconference hearing that lasted about 46 minutes.The outlets, in a lawsuit against Trump, argue the ban violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which protects free press rights by punishing them for the content of stories they have published about Trump and his administration."This is a clear retaliation case," Theodore Boutrous Jr., a lawyer representing the outlets, argued at Wednesday's hearing to Kelly, whom Trump nominated for his seat in U.S. District Court in D.C. in 2018.The Justice Department, in a late Tuesday night filing, said Trump had barred the outlets on the grounds of national security concerns, and that the president had the ...