White House excludes CNN from Air Force One trip to Tennessee, halting TV press pool coverage
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The administration barred CNN from flying on Air Force One for President Trump's Tennessee visit, leaving no television pool to cover the trip and raising questions about ongoing legal challenges.
The White House announced on Friday that CNN will not be permitted to travel on Air Force One for President Donald Trump's trip to Tennessee, where he will attend a college football game. The decision removes CNN from the White House television press pool, a rotating group of broadcasters that share video and information from the president’s appearances with other networks.
No other outlet was named to replace CNN, meaning the television pool will have no coverage of the Tennessee event. The move follows a broader ban announced last week that also targeted MSNBC and Politico, which had previously been blocked from the White House and from flying on Air Force One to the United Nations General Assembly. A federal judge later halted enforcement of that ban and ordered the restoration of credentials for the affected reporters, though the status of the TV pool remained uncertain.
Other major broadcasters—Fox, NBC, ABC and CBS—had refused to participate in the pool while CNN’s access was suspended, but regular coverage resumed on Friday when CNN joined the pool for the president’s meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the National Archives.
Legal proceedings continue. A judge has given CNN, MSNBC and Politico until Monday to request a preliminary injunction that would extend the pause on the administration’s ban. CNN declined to comment, and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.
Jacqui Heinrich, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, said the press pool system enables networks to share video of the president nationwide and that without participating outlets the pool cannot function. Former WHCA president Weijia Jiang emphasized the importance of independent coverage, warning that reliance on government-provided streams alone could limit public insight.