Early Thursday morning, a federal judge ordered the White House to give CNN, MS NOW, and Politico back their access. By Thursday night, CNN was on air explaining that it had been turned away from the state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping. Chinese state media made it in; CNN and MS NOW did not. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool.
Some background, for those just tuning in. The White House banned the three outlets last Saturday, with Trump explaining that “Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES.” The outlets sued, and brought in Gibson Dunn, which has won this fight before. The White House answered with a whole lot of talking points and not a lot of case law. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, who handled the Jim Acosta press-pass case in 2018, was not impressed. He issued a 14-day temporary restraining order and noted that the administration “provided no support for its assertion that any of the disputed stories contained classified information or damaged national security.” Some of the reporting Trump was so mad about was, per the judge, “months or years old.”
Then came the dinner, and the White House’s explanation: “This is a pre-credentialed event. Contrary to what the Fake News wants you to believe, they don’t just get to have free rein into every part of the White House.”
Well, nobody asked for free rein, just for the same access Chinese state media received.
That’s when Laurence Tribe — the Harvard constitutional law professor emeritus, and someone who has spent a career weighing presidential power — went on “OutFront” and told Erin Burnett that he’d looked for historical parallels and came up empty, “This president does not recognize that he is subject to the law. I was trying to think of parallels in history, but there really are none.”
So Tribe went looking among the monarchs. King George III, the guy the entire American experiment was built to reject? He “didn’t have this kind of power,” according to Tribe. George “tried to control coverage, but he was responsible to a parliament,” Tribe explained. “This Congress basically does, because of the MAGA element, what the president wants.”
Yup, the guy the entire American Revolution is about? Less bad than our current president.
But Tribe goes harder. He moved on to Louis XIV, the Sun King, the man who is remembered for building Versailles and saying “L’état, c’est moi.” Louis, per Tribe, also “didn’t go this far.” The Sun King said he was answerable to no earthly authority and didn’t push it as far as Trump.
The constitutional scholar went looking for historical parallels and ran out of monarchs.
“We can’t have this in this country. That’s dictatorship,” Tribe said. “He would like basically to be not just King Trump, but Emperor Trump… and I don’t think that the American people are having it…”
The country was literally founded to get away from King George. Now a Harvard constitutional law professor says George had more limits on him than our president does. That should be a wake-up call for anyone who cares about the American experiment. It won’t be, but it should be.
Earlier: Trump Banned Three News Outlets And Handed Gibson Dunn A Sequel It Already Knows How To Win
The White House Has A Whole Lot Of Talking Points And Not A Lot Of Case Law
Remaining Reporters Should Self-Deport From The White House, Avoid Spreading More Trump Lies
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Bluesky @Kathryn1
