President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he was barring CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, citing what he characterized as unfavorable coverage and “fake news,” and warned that further such exclusions of media outlets could be forthcoming — the most recent escalation in the president’s progressively more aggressive posture toward press coverage he deems objectionable.

As with numerous other confrontations between Trump and news organizations — several of which are unfolding within the legal arena — this particular episode carries potential First Amendment ramifications.

The president declared on his social media platform that, effective immediately, “I am banning” CNN, MS NOW and Politico “from the White House as a result of their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS!”

Mere minutes thereafter, addressing an event in the Oval Office, Trump was called upon to elucidate his statement.

“Because they are counterfeit news,” he said.

“One grows so weary of reading and seeing counterfeit news.

When you look at CNN, it is simply counterfeit.

That is why their ratings are no good.

When you look at MS NOW …, it is counterfeit news.”

"And should one scrutinise Politico... the narratives they propagated are spurious.

Consequently, there exists a plethora of news, and there may be others who elect to align themselves with them, and perchance they might ameliorate," he said.

"Yet our nation must possess veracious journalism."

CNN excoriated the move, avowing that it stands squarely behind its White House team and their “fair and accurate reporting.”

“We possess a right, enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, to conduct that reporting unencumbered by and free from governmental hindrance or interference,” it said in a statement posted on X.

“Were the ban threatened by President Trump to come to pass, it would constitute an unlawful assault upon that fundamental and constitutionally safeguarded right.”

Politico asserted that it would “continue to fairly report on this White House and future ones.

We will vigorously defend our First Amendment rights against any attempt to restrict them.”

MS NOW did not immediately return an email seeking comment on the ban.

In his second term, Trump and his administration have escalated their offensive, meting out punishment to certain media outlets both within the courtroom and through regulatory measures.

Trump has likewise inveighed against individual reporters face to face or via social media, at times in strikingly ad hominem terms.

The move follows the president’s decision last year to keep reporters journalists out of the Oval Office, Air Force One and other events in retaliation for the news outlet’s decision not to follow his lead in changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico, which lies partially in Mexican and other waters.

Reporters said that it would note when appropriate that Trump had ordered it renamed the “Gulf of America.”

Reporters have instituted legal proceedings, and the matter remains sub judice.

Since his return to office, Trump has initiated further litigation against a diverse array of outlets, among them The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the BBC.

His administration is likewise embroiled in a protracted, long-simmering confrontation with ABC concerning the renewal of its broadcast licenses.

Trump’s endeavor to bar CNN from White House access is especially noteworthy, in that it could overturn the traditional five-network television pool that accompanies the president and shadows his every movement — an arrangement intended to furnish independent coverage of his actions and interactions for the Americans who elected him and for the world.

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In his social media announcement, Trump refrained from furnishing any particulars as to how the ban would be effectuated.

It transpired mere moments before Trump addressed reporters in the Oval Office in conjunction with a health care event.

He subsequently intended to escort the press pool to his golf club in Virginia for a meeting and dinner sponsored by his Super PAC, prior to spending the weekend at Camp David — one of the few locales where reporters do not follow him.

“Media Outlets ought not to enjoy carte blanche to persistently purvey fiction and falsehoods in their coverage of the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America,” Trump wrote.

“Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow.”

At the event, Trump redoubled his asseverations concerning various media outlets.

"The New York Times is nothing short of utterly spurious.

The Washington Post is utterly repugnant," he said.

A federal judge held that the government could not penalize reporters on the basis of its editorial decisions.

An appeals court, however, stayed the greater part of that ruling while it entertained the Trump administration’s appeal.

Eighteen months on, the case remains unresolved.

In Sherrill v. Knight, a federal appeals court held in 1977 that, while the White House is under no obligation to open its doors to the news media, once it has established press facilities for credentialed journalists, it may not deny access on the basis of the content of a journalist’s coverage.

The court held that any denial must serve a compelling governmental interest and that the journalist must be afforded notice, an opportunity to respond, and a final disposition in writing.