Trump Bans CNN, MS NOW and Politico From White House
President Donald Trump announced Friday that CNN, MS NOW and Politico are banned from the White House, citing what he called fake news. The three outlets said they will defend their First Amendment rights, and past attempts to bar journalists have been blocked by federal judges.
President Donald Trump announced Friday that CNN, MS NOW and Politico will be barred from the White House, escalating a long-running confrontation with three news organizations he accuses of unfair coverage. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the ban was effective immediately and tied it to what he described as constant fake news reporting.
Trump repeated the decision while taking questions from reporters in the Oval Office, pointing to what he called cumulative stories the outlets have published over the years. «You get sick of it,» he said. Asked whether he was trying to intimidate the press, Trump denied it, arguing that he has a right to keep outlets he considers dishonest away from the White House grounds.
The practical effect is significant because CNN has for decades been part of a rotating pool of five networks, including Fox News, that travel with the president around the world. CNN had already been selected to lead network pool coverage on Monday, when Trump is scheduled to attend the United Nations General Assembly. A senior White House official told Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy that top executives at CNN, MS NOW and Politico were being informed their journalists cannot come to the White House grounds beginning Saturday. CNN was still broadcasting live from its tent on the media row outside the White House.
The three outlets pushed back quickly. CNN said in a statement on X that it stands fully behind its White House team and their fair and accurate reporting, adding that the network has a constitutional right to do that reporting without government interference. «Should the ban which President Trump threatened go ahead, it would be an illegal assault on that fundamental and constitutionally-protected right,» CNN said. Politico told Fox News Digital that it will continue to fairly report on this White House and future ones and will vigorously defend its First Amendment rights against any attempt to restrict them. A spokesperson for MS NOW declined to comment.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a Republican and former White House press secretary during the first Trump administration, was in attendance at the Oval Office event focused on healthcare. She rejected the idea that Trump opposes a free press protected by the First Amendment. «I think it's hard for you to argue against a free press when you're literally standing in the Oval Office asking questions of the president of the United States,» Sanders told reporters. «He has been more accessible and easier to talk to than any president in history.»
The announcement is not the first time the Trump administration has tried to limit access for outlets or individual journalists. Past efforts of that kind have been blocked by federal judges, a record that suggests the new ban could face immediate legal challenge. Trump made clear he believes courts should not stand in the way. «I don't think that a court should allow fake news to be written day, after day, after day. I think that somebody has a right to keep them away,» he said.
The dispute lands at the intersection of press access and presidential power, with the White House Correspondents' Association and other media groups likely to weigh in. For now, the ban applies to the three named outlets, and it remains unclear how it will affect routine coverage of the president, pool rotations and travel abroad. The White House has not said whether the restriction is permanent or how it might be enforced beyond denying access to the grounds.
