The White House announced Friday evening that CNN would not broadcast Air Force One for President Donald Trump’s trip on Saturday, the latest media restriction imposed by the administration in an ongoing dispute with First Amendment implications.
The news organization was replaced by Real America’s Voice, a conservative network, for the president’s trip to Knoxville, Tennessee, as directed by the White House. Trump is scheduled to attend a college football game between the University of Tennessee and the University of Texas on Saturday at noon.
The news came just after reporters from CNN, as well as MS NOW and Politico, which Trump banned last week from the White House grounds, returned to the executive complex with television cameras in hand after a judge granted the organizations a reprieve.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly temporarily canceled the ban in a ruling issued Thursday morning, but its decision concerned “hardship passes” for the White House grounds and did not directly address pool-related duties.
The judge’s temporary order also says nothing directly about Air Force One.
The media believe that the court decision covers the “pool”
Theodore Boutrous Jr., the media’s attorney, did not immediately respond to an email and phone call from The Associated Press seeking comment Friday evening.
Earlier Friday, on “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” Boutrous said the plaintiffs believed the court’s recent ruling also covered the issue of pool access.
The White House did not immediately respond to an email from AP seeking additional details about the decision.
For some time during the day, the US network video pool for the White House was recommissioning for the first time since Trump banned all three media outlets in an extraordinary showdown over media access.
At noon on CNN, viewers were able to see Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping visit the National Archives, alongside Melania Trump and Peng Liyuan, Xi’s wife. The banner at the bottom of the screen read: “Trump and China’s Xi Visit National Archives.” It was a routine report on a state visit — except CNN hadn’t aired live video of Trump in several days.
“Right now, all systems are working,” said a person close to the pool, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the fluidity of the situation.
The swimming pool consists of five major American broadcast channels that take turns filming and sharing videos. When the White House banned CNN – which is owned by the pool – from the White House grounds, along with MS NOW and Politico, the other four pool providers refused to participate in a show of solidarity.
CNN’s seat on this flight has long been reserved for a member of the American network video pool, of which Real America’s Voice is not a part.
CNN did not comment directly earlier Friday, instead referring to its editorial coverage. But Brian Stelter, the network’s media analyst, posted on X that CNN had a pool assignment at the National Archives event and that the White House had approved the network’s credentials.
Throughout his second term, Trump increasingly targeted media outlets whose coverage irritated him, taking administrative or legal action against several of them. Early last year, he banned AP journalists from White House events because the organization was not complying with his executive order changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to “Gulf of America.” The AP guidelines say to recognize the new name if applicable.
The case is on appeal after a federal district judge ruled in favor of AP.
The press pool was created decades ago by the White House Correspondents Association, a group of journalists who cover the president, to ensure that a rotating roster always travels with the president.
The pool distributes in-person reporting and images to the entire press corps and is designed to hold the nation’s chief executive accountable on behalf of the American public.
The association did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
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