Self-Proclaimed Free Speech Defender Bans CNN, MSNOW, Politico From White House
Fake News
Trump says that "Other Fake News Media Outlets" are to follow
Donald Trump is escalating his effort to silence media outlets who don’t lick his boots, this time by attempting to ban CNN, MSNOW, and Politico from the White House press pool.
“I am proud to announce that, effective immediately, I am banning Fake News CNN, MSNOW … and Politico … from the White House as a result of their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS,” Trump wrote Friday on Truth Social.
“Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America. Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow,” he added.
It’s not the first time that Trump has attempted to restrict legitimate coverage of the administration. Early in his second term, Trump attempted to ban the Associated Press from the White House after the outlet refused to capitulate to the administration’s efforts to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.”
The Associated Press successfully sued the administration to have the attempted ban. It’s likely that the three outlets targeted by the president on Friday will pursue similar relief.
“CNN stands fully behind our White House team and their fair and accurate reporting,” CNN wrote in a public statement. “We have a right under the U.S. Constitution to do that reporting without hindrance or interference from the government. Should the ban which President Trump threatened go ahead, it would be an assault on that fundamental and constitutionally protected right.”
During an Oval Office press gaggle held shortly after he posted about the ban, Trump doubled down. “You get so tired of reading and seeing fake news,” the president said. “There may be others who join them, and maybe they can get better and we’d like to have them [back] in, but our country has to have honest news.”
In other words: write nicer things about me and you might get your credentials back.
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Q: You posted that you intend to ban CNN, Politico, and MS Now from the White House. Every president takes an oath to uphold the Constitution, which includes the First Amendment. How do you justify this?
TRUMP: Because they're fake news. There may be others to join them. pic.twitter.com/PORNe4RPYO
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 18, 2026
Trump has regularly attempted to leverage the influence of his administration to silence his most prominent critics. He has attempted to weaponsize the Federal Communications Commission against late-night hosts, including pressuring ABC News to remove late night host Jimmy Kimmel from the air — a decision they were later forced to reverse after public backlash. He has also threatened CBS and ABC penalties if they aired sit-down interviews with Texas candidate James Talarico.
CNN, MSNOW, and Politico are the latest outlets to be hit, with “others to follow,” as the president who says he’s a champion of free speech continues to crack down on coverage.