President Trump has stepped up his ongoing war with the mainstream media, banning three major news outlets from the White House. The president’s blatant attack on freedom of the press has sparked heavy criticism and has already led to legal challenges against the expulsion.
Trump bans three networks, threatening more
President Trump said Friday that he was “proud to announce” that he was banning CNN, MS Now and POLITICO from the White House. Reporting originating with the Wall Street Journal claims that Trump enacted the ban shortly after influential aide Natalie Harp showed Trump clips of unfavorable news coverage, although White House sources claimed that no one moment led to the decision to ban the networks. In a social media post announcing the move, Trump said the ban came “as a result of their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS!” The president argued “Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America.” He also threatened “Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow.”
When asked about the ban later Friday, Trump blatantly confirmed his attack on the media outlets. “Oh, the ban on the free press?” he said to reporters gathered in the Oval Office. “It’s a very simple ban. I don’t want them in my office. I don’t want them here. I would say the ban will go as far as it can.” Trump dismissed the banned networks as “very dishonest people” and also recounted past and current lawsuits he has filed against other news organizations, including ABC News, CBS News and the BBC. “We have numerous lawsuits; we’ll be suing these people too.” He also repeated a misleading claim previously made by the now-defunct Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) about POLITICO receiving an $8 million subscription from the Biden administration; the figure actually represented the total paid by various federal agencies in 2024 for subscriptions to firewalled content from POLITICO, not a single subsidy or payment from the Biden administration. Attacking the credibility of the three targeted news outlets, Trump concluded “So we are banning them, yes we are, and there may be others to follow.”
Banned outlets sue over First Amendment violations as other journalists speak out
As POLITICO reported, Trump made good on his pledge, as reporters from the three networks were blocked from entering White House grounds Saturday morning. POLITICO noted that one of its journalists, Cheyenne Haslett, was blocked by Secret Service members who also seized her press pass. “We stand by her and all reporters here covering the White House. As we said yesterday, we will vigorously defend our First Amendment rights.” MS NOW reporters, including Akayla Gardner, and CNN journalists received similar treatment at the hands of the Secret Service. On Monday morning, the three networks filed an emergency lawsuit with the DC District Court to challenge the ban. “This ban could not be a more direct assault on the First Amendment nor a more blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles,” the networks said in their filing. In a joint statement about their legal challenge, the networks warned about the long-term impact of Trump’s ban. “Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, other journalists and news organizations are condemning Trump for attacking the First Amendment and standing in solidarity with the three banned networks. Fox News journalist and White House Correspondents’ Association President Jacqui Heinrich said “The American people, through a free and independent press, must be able to scrutinize those elected to power, regardless of whether government officials view it favorably. That’s why courts have repeatedly held that once the White House provides access to journalists, it cannot deny that access arbitrarily or based on the content of their reporting.” On behalf of the WHCA, she demanded that Trump “immediately restore our colleagues’ access.”
CBS Senior White House Correspondent Weijia Jiang, the previous WHCA president, spoke on Fox News Sunday, arguing that “an attack on one outlet is an attack on everyone, no matter where that outlet falls on the political spectrum.” She especially pointed out how the move hindered Americans’ ability to make “informed decisions” in an election year.
Meanwhile, the major television networks indicated that they would not participate in the White House pool, the group of reporters that cover the day-to-day activities of the president, in solidarity with the banned networks. Seemingly in response to the networks’ boycott, the White House’s “daily guidance” email about Monday’s press pool did not list the five major networks of ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and Fox News as part of the pool.
President Trump has launched many attacks against the media, suing over unfavorable stories, threatening regulatory action and launching insults and acts of intimidation against individual reporters. Now, he has escalated his war with the media even more, implementing a ban that appears to directly violate the First Amendment and setting up a fight that is being carried out in print, on the airwaves and in federal court.