(CNN) - The White House has excluded Politico from the press coverage group that includes reporters accompanying the US President on his foreign trips, an official source confirmed Monday.
The White House tried to recruit other news organizations to replace Politico on the trip, but was “unable to find a replacement,” and as a result “there will be no essential representation of the print press on this trip,” Washington Post reporter Katherine Doyle said in an email to colleagues.
The Washington Post is participating in the trip as a “secondary” representative of the print press within the group; The "secondary" reporter usually does not send news updates to the rest of the news organization.
But as Trump travels to Nebraska for a campaign event, The Post is sending updates while emphasizing that it is not replacing Politico.
CBS, which represents the group's television journalism, will share its observations with print media outlets during the trip, given the exceptional circumstances.
“Neither news organization is a replacement for Politico,” CBS's Josh Gross wrote in an internal email.
This action is further evidence of solidarity between news organizations that often compete fiercely in covering the White House.
Informed sources told CNN that the White House offered the Politico seat to several other news organizations that typically take turns participating in the group, but all of those organizations rejected the offer.
Trump announced on September 18 that he was “banning” Politico, CNN, and MSNBC from the White House, a move that legal experts described as “unconstitutional.”
The news organizations filed a lawsuit on September 21, claiming that the ban "violates the First and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution."
Judge Timothy J. sided. Kelly sided with the plaintiffs and issued a temporary injunction requiring the Trump administration to return press credentials to journalists.
However, the White House has since continued to repeatedly bar CNN from traveling on Air Force One on days when the network was supposed to be the press group's television representative.
Now, on the day it was Politico's turn to represent the news group, the site was also banned from participating.
The Trump administration appears to justify these new restrictions by saying that entering the White House complex is different from entering narrow and limited places such as Air Force One.
The court is currently considering a lawsuit filed by the Associated Press regarding this discrimination, as Trump had tried to prevent the agency from entering certain places last year.
The action taken Monday against Politico will likely be included in an upcoming legal brief filed by CNN, MSNBC, and Politico.
“The law is quite clear,” Ted Buttros, a lawyer for the three news organizations, said in a statement. “The harm to our clients, to the First Amendment, and to the public as a whole is serious.”
He added: "It is absolutely necessary to force the White House to stop this unconstitutional ban on press freedom."
Last week, when TIME reporters asked the president if he was ignoring the court order, he said no, and communications director Stephen Cheung chimed in. “The judge has effectively ordered them to renew their White House pass, but that is different from allowing the unified press group to attend events inside the Oval Office or on Air Force One,” he said.
Asked about the action taken against Politico on Monday, a White House spokesperson told CNN: “Many media organizations, including Politico, are granted access to attend and cover presidential events individually, but traveling with the President of the United States on Air Force One is a privilege, not a right.”
This is also the position adopted by the Trump Justice Department before the court.
Judge Kelly is scheduled to hold a hearing on Thursday to consider the news organizations' request for a preliminary injunction, which would protect the press's right to enter the White House for a longer period in preparation for a possible trial.
A White House spokesman confirmed that Trump "will continue to give the press an unprecedented level of access and coverage."
However, his recent actions reveal a desire to pick and choose who asks questions and who documents the facts of his presidency.
