‘Why on God’s green earth:’ Vance fires back at critics of Trump’s media ban

WASHINGTON, DC: Vice President JD Vance defended President Donald Trump's decision to bar CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from White House access, calling it a denial of special access rather than a media ban.

Vance argued the outlets can still report on the administration, speak with officials and use public reports despite losing access inside the White House.

He made the comments Monday, September 21, at Joint Base Andrews before traveling to North Carolina to join Republican Senate candidate Michael Whatley’s midterm campaign.

JD Vance says Trump is targeting outlets he calls far-left propaganda

Vance said Trump was responding to what he described as “far left propaganda,” arguing that a Republican White House should not provide special access to outlets it considers unfair.

“Now, why on God's green earth would Donald Trump be expected to give Politico special access when nobody in the media expected the Biden administration or the Obama administration to give Breitbart special access?” he argued. 

He said that it's about basic fairness. 

Vance stated that “So he's not banning media outlets,” while pointing to the outlets' coverage, saying, “those three outlets account for about 92% of the stories that they have on the press of the United States on the administration are negative.” 

He argued that this was not representative of public opinion.

CNN, MS NOW, and Politico said Monday they would sue to “protect our First Amendment rights,” arguing that the government should not decide what the press reports or publishes.

Trump announced Friday that the three outlets would be banned from entering the White House, accusing them of reporting “fake news.” 

JD Vance defends limits on White House access

Asked how the policy fits with his past statements about free speech, Vance said the outlets still retain the ability to report on the administration.

“They can still report on the Trump White House,” he said. “They can still get the public reports. They can still, of course, talk to people in the administration and outside the administration.”

Vance said the distinction was between reporting access and special access inside the White House. “What the president has said is, we're not going to give you special access inside the White House,” he said.

He compared Politico with conservative outlet Breitbart under previous Democratic administrations, arguing that the White House's decision was about fairness.

“The way that I think about it is, if you go back to the Biden administration or the Obama administration, compare, let's say, Politico to Breitbart,” Vance said. 

He argued that Politico's coverage of Trump was comparable to Breitbart's coverage of those administrations.

Trump rejects free-press criticism

Trump rejected the characterization of the move as an attack on the press in a Truth Social post Monday, saying the White House was targeting “FAKE NEWS.”

“The White House is not instituting an assault on the Free Press, something which I cherish,” Trump wrote. “It is instituting an assault on the FAKE NEWS, something that has grown like Cancer in our beloved United States of America.”

The president accused the outlets of being “corrupt, purposeful, pervasive, fully coordinated, and totally out of control” and called them “a threat to our National Security.”

Vance said Trump could restore special access if the outlets changed their conduct, saying they could receive access “unless, of course, they start to behave like real nourished news organizations.”