Technologies

Trump media ban lawsuit set for Wednesday court hearing

President Donald Trump said he banned the three media outlets because of what he called “cumulative stories,” saying, “You get sick of it.”

MS NOW, CNN and Politico sued President Donald Trump on Monday morning in Washington, D.C., federal court, seeking to reverse his total ban on those three media outlets from the White House.

Journalists from the outlets were prevented from entering the White House on Saturday and had their credentials taken away, a day after Trump announced he would bar them from working there.

Judge Timothy Kelly later Monday ordered the Department of Justice to respond to the outlets’ request for a temporary restraining order against the ban by Tuesday.

Kelly scheduled a videoconference hearing on the outlets’ request for 3:30 p.m. ET Wednesday. The judge was nominated by Trump to the federal bench in 2017.

“This ban could not be a more direct assault on the First Amendment nor a more blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles,” the lawsuit says, arguing that the ban has already “severely impeded the ability of” the three outlets to cover Trump and his administration.

“Presidents from the earliest days of the Republic have disagreed with and complained about the tenor and content of press coverage of their administrations,” notes the civil complaint.

But “the Constitution protects the liberty and property interests that news organizations and White House reporters have in their press credentials and the access those credentials afford them to cover the White House for the benefit of the public,” the suit says.

“No official can deprive Plaintiffs of those interests on a whim — with no notice, no process, and no warning — as the President did here.”

Trump, in announcing the ban in a Truth Social post Friday, accused the outlets of writing fiction and lies about him, and warned, “Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow.” The president cited what he called “cumulative stories” by the three news organizations, adding, “You get sick of it.”

On Monday morning, after the lawsuit was announced, Trump in a Truth Social post said, “The White House is not instituting an assault on the Free Press, something which I cherish.”

“It is instituting an assault on the FAKE NEWS, something that has grown like Cancer in our beloved United States of America,” Trump wrote. “It is corrupt, purposeful, pervasive, fully coordinated, and totally out of control.”

“It is a threat to our National Security, and must be stopped, NOW!” he said. Trump had not previously cited national security in justifying the ban. The president gave no examples to back up his claim.

The suit alleges the ban violates the Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution by failing to give the outlets advance notice and an opportunity to challenge it, without establishing clear standards for Trump’s decision.

The complaint also says the ban violates the Constitution’s First Amendment by retaliating “against protected newsgathering and speech.”

And it says the ban violates the First Amendment for a separate reason: It bars the three media outlets “from a nonpublic forum for unlawful reasons.” Those reasons include so-called viewpoint discrimination, or targeting the outlets for their perceived “motivating ideology or the opinion or perspective.”

In a joint statement Monday, the three outlets said, “This morning, we notified the government that we are filing a lawsuit today to protect our First Amendment rights and defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes.”

“Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists’ credentials because it objected to our reporting,” the statement said. “Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference.”

Theodore Boutrous Jr., the attorney for the three outlets, said in a statement, “The law is on our side across the board, and we look forward to presenting our arguments to the court as soon as possible.

The White House, in a statement later Monday, said Trump removed the three outlets “from the White House grounds after years of false reporting.”

“The First Amendment protects their right to publish; it does not entitle them to a hard pass, briefing room seat, or place in the press pool,” the White House said. “Access changes are nothing new. What is new, however, is the sudden claim that it becomes sacred only when the outlets are friendly to the Radical Left. The rule was never ‘every outlet gets in.’ It was always ‘our side stays in.’”

Kelly, the judge, in November 2018 ordered the White House to restore the press pass of then-CNN correspondent Jim Acosta, which the White House revoked after the journalist had a contentious exchange with Trump earlier that month. CNN sued Trump to get Acosta’s credentials restored.

Trump referenced Kelly by name, and mentioned his ruling on Acosta, in a Truth Social post later Monday that suggested the president believes the judge will ruling against him in the new lawsuit.

“The Judge’s name is Tim Kelly, and he was, sadly, appointed by “TRUMP,” the president wrote.

“In other words, almost without question and, as usual, 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 anywhere in the World.”

In addition to Trump, the defendants named in the complaint include Steven Cheung, his assistant for communications, White House Chief of Staff Susan Wiles, and Sean Curran, director of the U.S. Secret Service.

The named plaintiffs are the three outlets and three White House reporters: Akayla Gardner of MS NOW, Betsy Klein of CNN, and Politico’s Cheyenne Haslett. The three journalists were denied entry to the White House on Saturday and their hard passes were taken away by a Secret Service officer there, the suit says.

On Sunday night, the White House removed CNN from its scheduled rotation as the pool television network for the White House travel pool. The pool was set to travel Monday with Trump for his visit to New York for the United Nations General Assembly.

The lawsuit cites the White House’s removal of CNN from Monday’s pool schedule as an example of the ban “causing irreparable harm to” the outlets.

After the suit was announced Monday, members of the White House television press pool decided not to cover Trump ahead of his trip or in New York because of the action targeting CNN.

The suit is being filed in the same court where The Associated Press has a pending lawsuit against the White House for a ban on that wire service’s journalists working in certain restricted spaces in the White House, including the Oval Office and on Air Force One. The White House’s partial ban on the AP came in February 2025 after the wire service refused to reflect Trump’s renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America” in how it routinely refers to that international body of water.

Trump told reporters Friday that the latest ban is worth implementing, even if it is overturned by a judge.

“I think it’s good to point it out, whether it survives or doesn’t,” he said.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, during an interview Monday morning in New York with CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” said, “I don’t know much about it,” when asked his opinion of the ban.

But Bessent also suggested the ban was justified, saying “legacy media” is unpopular with the public “because of the perceived bias.”

Asked by CNBC’s Joe Kernen about a possible “off-ramp” from the ban, Bessent said, “We’ll see. Maybe it’s a change in coverage at the White House.”

Bessent also said, “The one thing I’m sure of: The press cares more about the press than anything else,” claiming news media focused more on the personal experiences of journalists at the aborted White House Correspondents’ Dinner in April than a gunman’s would-be assassination of Trump.

“One thing I’m sure is that this [ban] will be covered by the press,” Bessent said. “And, you know, I think we could get back to something that is a little more, I can’t even remember which network it is, fair and balanced.”

Fox News, a media outlet that is often criticized as being biased toward Trump and his administration, previously used the slogan “Fair and Balanced,” before discontinuing its use about a decade ago.

Jameel Jaffer, executive director of The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, in a statement Monday, said, “We’re glad to see that these news organizations are suing.”

“The president’s decision to bar them from the White House for the content of their reporting is a flagrant violation of the First Amendment,” Jaffer said. “It’s an attack both on press freedom and the public’s right to independent information about the government. We will support these news organizations in court.”

White House Correspondents’ Association President Jacqui Heinrich, in a statement Saturday, said, “The American people, through a free and independent press, must be able to scrutinize those elected to power, regardless of whether government officials view it favorably.”

“That’s why courts have repeatedly held that once the White House provides access to journalists, it cannot deny that access arbitrarily or based on the content of their reporting,” said Heinrich, a Fox News correspondent.

In the AP’s lawsuit, Judge Trevor McFadden ruled in April 2025 that Trump’s partial ban of the agency’s journalists violated the First Amendment and ordered that the AP be given the same access as other members of the presidential press pool to the Oval Office, other restricted areas of the White House and Air Force One.

“The Court simply holds that under the First Amendment, if the Government opens its doors to some journalists — be it to the Oval Office, the East Room, or elsewhere — it cannot then shut those doors to other journalists because of their viewpoints,” wrote McFadden, who was appointed to the federal bench by Trump.

“The Constitution requires no less,” the judge said.

Rather than allowing the AP access to places the White House press pool goes to cover the president, the White House said it would abolish the so-called wire pool, which included the AP, Bloomberg and Reuters. The wire pool for decades had traveled with presidents to bring news coverage to news consumers around the world. It has not been reinstated.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, in a 2-1 vote in June 2025, blocked McFadden’s ruling from taking effect while Trump appealed it.

The panel heard oral arguments in the appeal in November but has not issued a decision.

Disclosure: CNBC and MS NOW are divisions of Versant Media.

Technologies

Apple and Meta team up to make Muse AI model run on Mac computers

Apple and Meta are collaborating to make Muse Spark Open easier to run locally on clustered Mac Studio systems, according to the companies.

Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg have clashed for years, but with John Ternus taking the reins at Apple

Technologies

CoreWeave credit default swaps hit distress levels as investors sour on AI debt

Signs of distressed deepened in CoreWeave on Thursday.

CoreWeave’s credit stress continued to spiral on Thursday amid a broader sell-off in AI-related names.

CoreWeave — a so-called neocloud company — has taken on more than $51 billion of debt and obligations to finance its AI infrastructure build-out. It’s now facing a rebellion from stock and bond investors as concerns mount about AI overspending and debt levels.

Yields on CoreWeave debt have continued to climb, with the yield to maturity on its 9.75% bond due in 2031 reaching 15.78%. Bond yields move inversely to prices. Meanwhile, the spread on its five-year credit default swaps, which are insurance against default, at one point soared above 1,140 basis points. It last stood at nearly 1,038 bps — a 16% week-over-week jump and 164% higher than a year ago.

Credit concerns are spreading into AI equities too. CoreWeave’s stock dropped during trading Thursday before recovering and closing 5.94% higher. The moved followed Wednesday’s 15.5% nosedive.

Other neocloud stocks were under similar pressure. Nebius also sank before climbing higher to close 1.29% and and Iren ultimately ended the day down less than 1%.

Anxiety about AI overspending is also spreading. For instance, shares of Micron Technology and Advanced Micro Devices sold off following a big sell-off in South Korean chip stocks. Micron closed up 1.87%, while AMD fell 1.5%.

While AI debt worries have been rising steadily, investors have suddenly grown skittish about the underlying finances of companies borrowing heavily to buy chips, build data centers, and rent out computing power.

Coreweave’s credit default swaps are one place to see that stress.

Credit default swaps are contracts where buyers pay for protection in case the borrower can’t repay its debt. The spread widening in CoreWeave’s CDS means investors view the debt as riskier.

The market is “basically saying ‘no mas’ to AI debt without operating cash flow support,” the Evercore ISI trading desk said.

A spread level of 1,000 basis points or above is generally a sign of credit distress, said Gavan Nolan, executive director of fixed income pricing at S&P Global Market Intelligence.

No one is questioning whether demand for CoreWeave’s services is real, since the company has contracts with all the big hyperscalers, Nolan said. The question is whether the cash flows will ultimately arrive.

“It’s obviously heavily negative free cash flow at the moment, and it needs that cash flow to arrive really to justify all the capex that it’s spending,” Nolan said.

‘Self-fulfilling prophecy’

CEO Mike Intrator dismissed the market moves on Wednesday, according to a memo obtained by CNBC.

“When you are building a new type of technology company there will be periods of time when the market misunderstands and acts irrationally,” he wrote. “We are confident in our backlog which more than supports all of our debt obligations.”

The backlog is over $100 billion, with around two-thirds of it with investment-grade counterparts including Microsoft, Meta, IBM and Caterpillar, Deutsche Bank said in a note Thursday. The firm reiterated its buy-rating on the stock Wednesday, calling the dislocation a buying opportunity.

“The problem is this kind of concern can prove to be a self-fulfilling prophecy, and risks triggering broader issues in other AI-related names,” said Jim Reid, global head of macro and thematic research.

Domino effects may already be happening. Oracle’s five-year CDS spread also spiked this week. It was last at 282 basis points, a roughly 10% increase in one week.

“A downgrade from its BBB rating would risk pressuring IG-only investors into forced sales,” Reid said.

Technologies

Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria is leaving, will be replaced by Peter Rice

Netflix announced Bela Bajaria will be replaced by former Disney exec Peter Rice as the company’s chief content officer.

Netflix on Thursday announced Bela Bajaria will be replaced as the company’s chief content officer by former Disney exec Peter Rice, effective Oct. 26.

Rice most recently oversaw Disney’s cable channels, news programming and coverage of major sporting events.

“Peter is one of the most effective at-scale operators in the entertainment industry,” co-CEO Ted Sarandos said in a statement. “I’m excited to welcome him to Netflix as Chief Content Officer as we continue to scale and deliver members more of the stories they love.”

Before Rice was at Disney, he held roles 21st Century Fox and Fox Searchlight Pictures. Netflix in its announcement called him “one of the entertainment industry’s most respected creative executives.” In his new role, Rice will oversee the company’s global content organization, including scripted and unscripted series, film and live events.

″[Netflix has] shown again and again that they’re willing to take chances on distinctive voices and fresh ideas, and I’m excited to work with the team to help bring even more great stories to members everywhere,” he said in a statement.

Bajaria, who is leaving Netflix after nearly 10 years, most recently worked as the company’s global content team. She had been focused on the company’s live sports strategy, looking to create events out of buzzy games and tournaments.

“I’m incredibly grateful for everything she’s done to help Netflix entertain the world,” Sarandos said in a statement.

The announcement comes a day after Netflix instituted layoffs across its organization, eliminating approximately 6% of its workforce, or roughly 1,000 jobs.

The media company will report its next quarterly earnings on Tuesday.

This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.