On Saturday, September 26, President Donald Trump barred the news network CNN from traveling on Air Force One as he headed to a football game at the University of Tennessee. The move was part of a broader restriction that also excluded CNN’s rivals MSNBC (which Trump calls “MSNOW”) and the political magazine Politico from the White House.
When reporters asked about the ban, Trump said, “I want real news. I love an open, free press. What I don’t like is the fake press, where a group like CNN, with few people watching, or MSDNC.” In a post on Truth Social, he reiterated that “FAKE NEWS SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED IN THE WHITE HOUSE!!! IT HAS GONE ON FAR TOO LONG, AT A TREMENDOUS COST TO OUR COUNTRY.”
CNN’s White House correspondent Alayna Treene told anchor Anderson Cooper that the White House had issued travel guidance for the day that did not include the network. “The White House is barring CNN from flying on Air Force One on Saturday as part of the news outlet’s duties covering the president on behalf of major television networks,” Kaitlan Collins wrote on X.
Trump’s restrictions followed a series of events that began on September 18, when he announced on Truth Social that the three outlets were banned from the White House. Journalists from the networks were denied entry on September 19 and had their credentials seized by the Secret Service. They filed a lawsuit on September 21, and a federal judge lifted the ban for two weeks on September 24, allowing the journalists to regain access to White House grounds. The television pool did not cover the first day of Trump’s U.S.–China summit on September 23, but resumed coverage on the second day, including a trip to the National Archives.
Despite the temporary lift, the White House released new travel guidance for Saturday that again excluded CNN, reinforcing the president’s stance that “perpetrators of FAKE NEWS” should not be granted access to the White House.
<small>Source: Yahoo News — read the original story there.</small>
