Trump IMMEDIATELY PUT in HIS PLACE as Pentagon DEFIES ORDER

Attorneys Brian Kabateck and Shant Karnikian break down the second ruling in less than a month striking down the Pentagon's restrictions on press access. After Judge Paul Friedman ruled on March 20 that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's press credentialing policy was unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination designed to "weed out disfavored journalists," the Pentagon didn't comply — it retaliated. The very next business day, it closed the Correspondents' Corridor where reporters had worked for decades, required escorts at all times, and announced plans to relocate the press to an unfinished annex outside the building. One New York Times reporter was reduced to working from her car in the parking lot. Judge Friedman was not fooled. In a stinging follow-up ruling, he wrote that the Pentagon "simply cannot reinstate an unlawful policy under the guise of taking 'new' action and expect the court to look the other way." He called the revised restrictions "transparent attempts to negate the impact of this court's order" and concluded with a warning: "Suppression of political speech is the mark of an autocracy, not a democracy." Brian and Shant connect this to Trump's same-week threat to jail reporters covering the downed fighter jet in Iran and explain why six months of litigation over whether reporters can walk into the Pentagon is a crisis for press freedom during wartime. Kabateck LLP: Call 1-844-74-CIVIL for a free case evaluation or visit us at https://www.kbklawyers.com/ We NEED your help! Legal AF and The Intersection podcasts are both FINAL 5 Finalists for the Webby Awards Best Podcasts! Voting is open for only the next 2 weeks. Show your support for our shows by voting for free for the Webby Awards, and gets friends and family to do the same! Vote for Legal AF (Podcasts – News & Politics) https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2026/podcasts/shows/news-politics Vote for The Intersection (Best New Podcast) https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2026/podcasts/features/best-new-podcast-news-business-society Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@LegalAFMTN?sub_confirmation=1 Become a member of Legal AF YouTube community: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgZJZZbnLFPr5GJdCuIwpA/join Become a member of the Legal AF Substack: https://michaelpopok.substack.com/20off Follow Legal AF on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/legalafmtn.bsky.social Follow Michael Popok on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mspopok.bsky.social Subscribe to the Legal AF podcast feed here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/legal-af-by-meidastouch/id1580828595 Subscribe to the Intersection with Michael Popok podcast feed here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-intersection-with-michael-popok/id1818863274 Subscribe to Unprecedented with Michael Popok and Dina Doll podcast feed here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unprecedented-by-legal-af/id1867023089 Subscribe to Court of History with Sidney Blumenthal and Sean Wilentz podcast feed here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-court-of-history/id1867022920