White House Escalates Assault on Press Freedom by Excluding CNN from Trump’s Texas-Oklahoma Trip
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In a blatant attack on the free press, the White House has removed CNN from the press pool covering President Trump’s visit to Texas and Oklahoma, defying a recent court order that halted the administration’s authoritarian media restrictions.
The White House announced on Wednesday that CNN will not be part of the press pool covering President Donald Trump’s scheduled visit to a truck plant in Denton, Texas, and a speech in Durant, Oklahoma on Thursday. This exclusion comes in the wake of a federal judge’s order last week that blocked the administration’s brazen attempt to muzzle CNN, MS NOW, and Politico by restricting their access to the White House.
CNN’s spokesperson confirmed the network’s removal from the pool but declined further comment, instead pointing to a statement by the network’s attorney, Theodore Boutrous. > "The White House is persisting in unpredictably and inconsistently implementing the President’s unconstitutional ‘ban on the free press’ by barring CNN from fulfilling its role as a designated television network pooler—to the detriment of CNN, its fellow pool members and, ultimately, the American public."
The attorney also urged a federal judge to extend the pause on the administration’s draconian ban. The White House, continuing its pattern of evasion and lack of transparency, has not responded to requests for comment on the exclusion.
The press pool system, which is meant to ensure fair and equitable access to presidential events, rotates designated outlets to share video and editorial resources. In a rare show of solidarity against the administration’s anti-democratic tactics, other major networks—including Fox News, ABC News, CBS News, and NBC News—briefly halted pool participation last week. Legal briefs supporting CNN’s position were filed by the White House Correspondents’ Association, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and a coalition of 49 media organizations, all standing up against the administration’s ongoing war on journalism.
This move is just the latest in a disturbing pattern of the president restricting access for outlets that dare to challenge him; in 2025, the administration even barred the Associated Press from the Oval Office and Air Force One over a petty dispute about the naming of the Gulf of Mexico.