• Markets: The Dow had its third down day in a row yesterday, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq ended mostly flat. But it could have been worse: Stocks fell early in the day as investors warily watched rising bond yields, but pared some losses amid hope for a potential deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
• Stock spotlight: Darden Restaurants, which owns Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, fell after investors weren’t as impressed with the company’s quarterly results as diners are with their breadsticks.

START THE PRESSES

Illustration: Morning Brew Inc., Photo: Saul Loeb/Getty Images

President Trump can’t keep CNN, MS NOW, and Politico off his US taxpayers’ lawn, at least for now. Nearly a week after he barred them from the White House, journalists from these outlets regained access yesterday following a judge’s early morning order to temporarily block Trump’s ban.

To refresh: Trump announced last Friday that he was revoking White House credentials for CNN, MS NOW, and Politico (Politico and Morning Brew have the same parent company, Axel Springer), initially saying it was “a result of their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS!” but later calling their reporting a national security risk. The outlets sued to get back in.

Now, things are looking up for the press: “The Court is skeptical—at least on this record—that Defendants’ interest in safeguarding national security is the actual motivation for, or is even advanced by, the revocation” of the outlets’ press passes, US District Judge Timothy Kelly wrote:

• Kelly granted the outlets a 14-day restraining order against Trump’s media ban, while their First Amendment lawsuit challenging it progresses.
• The administration’s examples of “objectionable reporting” by CNN, MS NOW, and Politico were “so vague it hardly does the trick,” Kelly’s order said.
• The judge added that the outlets have a good shot of proving in court that the administration violated their constitutional due process rights.

The judge issued his order in the wee hours of yesterday morning, but reporters from CNN, MS NOW, and Politico were still turned away until around noon, though it wasn’t immediately clear why.

No eyes on Xi

CNN’s TV pool peers—ABC, CBS, Fox News, and NBC—suspended their White House video coverage all week in solidarity with the excommunicated outlets, which meant that no American network aired live footage yesterday when Trump hosted China’s President Xi Jinping, who’s here to discuss AI, Iran, and Taiwan.

Looking ahead…the networks have said they won’t resume presidential pool coverage until the administration reassures them that CNN will not only regain White House access, but also be readmitted to the pool.—ML

      

World

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