Trump bars CNN, MS NOW and Politico from White House citing 'fake news'

Move follows AP access ban and lawsuits against Times, Journal and BBC

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Friday that he was banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, citing what he called unfavorable coverage and threatening additional restrictions on news organizations. The Associated Press described the move as the administration’s latest test of constitutional First Amendment protections guaranteeing the freedom of the press.

Trump has long bristled at news coverage he maintains casts him in a negative light, and has a history of filing lawsuits against news organizations, while lashing out at individual reporters in person or over social media.

Trump announced the action on his social media platform, writing that, effective immediately, “I am banning” the three outlets “from the White House as a result of their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS!” The president added that “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,” and warned that “Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow.”

The announcement came moments before Trump spoke to reporters in the Oval Office as part of a health care event. He later planned to take the press pool to his golf club in Virginia for a meeting and dinner sponsored by his Super PAC, before spending the weekend at Camp David — one of the few places reporters don’t follow him.

Trump offered no details on how the access restrictions would be carried out.

The president’s move follows his February 2025 decision to keep Associated Press journalists out of the Oval Office, Air Force One and other events too small for the full press corps. Trump took that step in retaliation for the AP’s refusal to follow his lead in renaming the Gulf of Mexico. The AP filed suit and the case is ongoing.

Since returning to office, Trump has pursued other legal action against a variety of different outlets, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the BBC.

CNN’s exclusion in particular could upend the traditional five-network television pool that travels with the president and tracks his every move — meant to provide independent coverage of his actions and interactions for the Americans who elected him and the world.