Trump Silences CNN, MS NOW, and Politico in Authoritarian Crackdown as Court Hearing Nears
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President Donald Trump has escalated his war on the free press by barring CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House, triggering a lawsuit that will soon be heard in federal court. The outlets, undeterred, continued covering his UN visit using United Nations credentials.
Reporters from CNN, MS NOW, and Politico, all of whom have been targeted by President Donald Trump’s ongoing assault on press freedom, attended his appearance at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. They were forced to rely on media passes issued by the UN, as the Trump administration’s draconian ban on their White House access awaits judicial review.
As he entered the UN building, Trump brazenly confronted the press, stating, "I'm surprised that CNN is here covering me, you shouldn't be here. You said you weren't going to cover me," doubling down on his relentless attacks against independent journalism.
Trump announced the ban on Friday through social media, smearing the outlets with baseless accusations of publishing "fiction and lies." In response, the three organizations filed a lawsuit on Monday, arguing that Trump’s actions are a blatant violation of First Amendment protections and seeking a temporary restraining order. The case will be heard Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee who previously ruled against the president in a 2018 press-pass case.
When pressed on whether the outlets would be allowed back if the court rules against him, Trump disparaged the judge as "not a particularly fair judge" and invoked dubious national-security concerns, insisting on the administration’s supposed right to "clean out fake news."
This ban is just the latest in a disturbing pattern of the Trump administration’s efforts to muzzle the press and undermine democratic norms. CNN, a mainstay of the White House television pool, was prevented from providing a pool feed for the UN trip, forcing other major networks to suspend their coverage. In a move reminiscent of state propaganda, the White House launched a "Trump TV" stream to broadcast its own sanitized version of events, which a press-freedom advocate rightly condemned as a "steady diet of government propaganda."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, appearing on NBC’s "Today" show, dodged questions about the administration’s attacks on the press pool and parroted Vice President JD Vance’s misleading claim that the outlets were not banned, but merely "not allowed to work from the workspace at the White House."