WH bars CNN from Air Force One flight a day after judge orders credentials to be restored

WASHINGTON, DC: The White House reportedly barred CNN from traveling aboard Air Force One with President Donald Trump, one day after a federal judge ordered the administration to restore the network’s White House credentials.

CNN had been scheduled to travel with Trump to Tennessee for a college football game as part of the White House television press pool. The decision was communicated in a Friday, September 25, evening schedule note that did not list another outlet to replace CNN. 

CNN excluded from Trump’s Tennessee trip

According to the rotating television press pool schedule, an arrangement where a group of journalists is responsible for covering the president and sharing the resulting video and information with other television networks, CNN was scheduled to cover Trump’s trip to Tennessee.

However, the White House’s guidance shared on Friday regarding Trump’s Saturday schedule did not list CNN in the television pool for the trip. No replacement outlet was also listed, meaning the trip is not expected to have television pool coverage at all.

The dispute began when Trump abruptly announced that CNN, MS NOW, and Politico would be barred from the White House, accusing them of repeatedly publishing what he described as false and negative coverage. 

“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,” Trump had written in a post on Truth Social on September 18.

CNN, MS NOW and Politico subsequently challenged the decision in court. In a joint statement, the outlets said the move threatened press freedom and the public’s access to independent journalism.

Judge restores credentials as press pool dispute continues

Just a day before CNN's reported exclusion from the Air Force One flight, US District Judge Timothy Kelly ordered the administration to immediately restore the organizations’ credentials in the early hours of Thursday and declined its request to delay the order. 

The temporary restraining order is set to remain in effect for 14 days while the court considers the outlets’ request for a preliminary injunction.

The reporters were not immediately allowed back into the White House after the order. CNN correspondent Betsy Klein and MS NOW White House correspondent Laura Barron-Lopez said they were turned away several times before finally gaining access later on Thursday.

Regular White House coverage resumed on Friday, with CNN participating in the television pool as Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the National Archives. The television pool is designed to provide footage and information from presidential events to other news organizations that cannot have reporters physically present. 

In a joint statement earlier in the dispute, the White House television pool said the public had “a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government” and argued that administrations should not restrict news organizations because of objections to their reporting.