CNN threatens further legal action after White House blocks access to Air Force One coverage
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CNN’s lawyer warned that the White House’s repeated denial of access to Air Force One could trigger more court action, in a dispute that has become a glaring example of official retaliation against disfavored news coverage.
The White House has once again denied CNN access to President Donald Trump’s trips on Air Force One, shattering a long-standing pooled-coverage arrangement that had helped ensure basic transparency. CNN’s outside counsel, Ted Boutrous, sent a letter to the Justice Department saying the network will seek further judicial relief if the exclusion continues.
"These efforts to retaliate and discriminate against CNN based on the content of its news coverage are mistaken, counterproductive, and unlawful," Boutrous wrote.
The demand comes amid a wider legal fight that began when the Trump administration barred CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House a month earlier. A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction, finding the ban likely violated the First Amendment because it amounted to viewpoint discrimination. Although that order temporarily restored White House access, the administration has kept narrowing CNN’s participation in the presidential travel pool.
The move echoes a similar case involving The Associated Press, which sued after being blocked from Air Force One and the Oval Office. An appeals panel in June 2025 partially lifted a stay in that case, saying those tightly controlled presidential spaces are not traditional First Amendment forums, though the ruling was non-binding.
Boutrous emphasized that the Oval Office and Air Force One remain the main places where the president speaks with the press, citing data showing that President Trump has taken more than 4,700 questions there since January 2025, compared with roughly 150 in the White House briefing room.
The letter also says other major networks have declined to replace CNN when it is excluded, and it urges the administration to provide written confirmation that it will end the policy of barring CNN from the Oval Office and Air Force One. A response was requested by 5 p.m. Eastern on Thursday.
The Justice Department did not comment on the letter, and a White House official previously dismissed the network as “Fake News” and said it had no place demanding a spot in the Oval Office.