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USA24 September, 20263 min read

White House Bars CNN From Air Force One for Trump’s Tennessee Trip

This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.

Trump bans CNN, MS NOW, Politico from White House with immediate effect. White House confiscates press passes; reporters denied entry from the three outlets.

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White House Bars CNN From Air Force One for Trump’s Tennessee Trip
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Compared

304 outlets told this the same way.

Air Force One Exclusion

The White House barred CNN from travelling with President Donald Trump on Air Force One for a trip to Tennessee on Saturday, and the White House guidance replaced CNN with Real America’s Voice News for the president’s flight. The White House note released Friday night did not list CNN on the media schedule for the trip, and CNN reported that no other outlet was listed as a substitute in the president’s tentative schedule. Trump scheduled the trip to include a college-football game between the University of Tennessee and the University of Texas at midday on Saturday, with the president set to attend at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville.

The White House communications account posted on X that "contrary to what the Fake News wants you to believe, they don't just get to have free rein into every part of the White House, every event, and every press call" as the dispute escalated. The White House also denied entry to some CNN and MS NOW reporters assigned to cover arrivals for a state dinner for Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday, even after a federal judge ruled Trump barring news outlets from the White House was likely unconstitutional.

Image from 20 Minutes
Image: 20 Minutes
Reporting for this sectionBBCAl Jazeera

Judge, Credentials, and Pool

A federal judge, Timothy Kelly, temporarily struck down the ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico, and Kelly said the government’s argument lacked "factual support" for the claim that the outlets were barred to protect national security. The judge’s decision addressed press passes to the White House and did not directly mention pool duties or Air Force One, while Theodore Boutrous Jr said the plaintiffs believed the ruling also covered pool access. The White House press pool consists of five major broadcast outlets that take turns recording and distributing video, and the other four providers declined to participate in the pool until access was restored.

ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC paused their broadcasts in solidarity with the banned outlets, and the BBC said the White House then launched its own streaming channel, Trump TV, ahead of the United General Assembly in New York. France 24 reported that the White House schedule released Friday evening did not list CNN or any of the TV networks in the TV pool rotation, and the schedule listed a "Secondary TV" correspondent and crew: Lindell TV.

Image from 20 Minutes
Image: 20 Minutes
Reporting for this sectionAl JazeeraFrance 24

First Amendment Stakes

CNN and the other barred outlets sued, alleging the White House violated their First Amendment rights, and their statement warned, "Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference." The White House defended its actions by arguing that the outlets failed to maintain minimum professional journalistic standards, and the administration’s representative wrote, "The President determined that Plaintiffs have failed to maintain minimum professional journalistic standards". The BBC said four television networks that have a daily rotation of White House coverage along with CNN, ABC, CBS, Fox News and NBC, paused their broadcasts of the president in solidarity with the banned outlets.

Daily Sabah said the judge’s temporary order addressed "hard passes" for access to the White House grounds and did not directly address pool duties, while it also said the spot meant for CNN on the flight had long been reserved for a member of the U.S. network video pool. The dispute continued as the White House excluded CNN from the press pool travelling with Trump to Tennessee on Saturday, even after CNN regained access to the White House after a ban lasting several days.

Reporting for this sectionAl JazeeraEL PAÍS English