Blanche: White House press access is 'a privilege, not a right'

CNN barred from Air Force One pool after judge restored press passes

US Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the Trump administration’s decision to bar three news organizations from the White House, telling ABC News on Sunday that the president is “sick and tired” of what Blanche characterized as inaccurate reporting by CNN, MS Now and Politico. Appearing on This Week during the second week of the White House’s dispute over press credentialing and access, Blanche framed the ban as a question of executive discretion rather than a constitutional question.

“The president hasn’t denied access,” Blanche told ABC. “That’s not the right way to describe it.” He pointed to Trump’s own comments that he is “sick and tired” of certain media outlets’ reporting the president considers inaccurate.

“There’s still obviously litigation going on, but the important thing … is to know that … being in the White House is a privilege. It’s not a right,” Blanche said.

The administration imposed the ban on CNN, MS Now and Politico beginning September 19. On Thursday, US District Judge Timothy Kelly issued a temporary restraining order requiring the White House to temporarily restore the credentials of the affected journalists, and the reporters were allowed entry to the executive complex. But on Saturday, CNN said its journalists were barred from joining the press pool traveling with the president on Air Force One.

The standoff between the administration and the White House press corps had appeared to be resolving before CNN was again blocked for pool coverage. Outlets stood in solidarity with CNN, MS Now and Politico by briefly refusing to carry pool TV feeds of the president.

On ABC, Blanche said it was not unusual for a news outlet to be excluded from the president’s plane. “The White House routinely decides who can go on Air Force One,” Blanche said. “This wasn’t a one-time denial of CNN. There’s all kinds of times when certain reporters are not flying or are flying.”

“It is common every time the president travels that he and his team decide which reporters get to travel with the president,” he added.

Blanche repeated the administration’s position that the affected three outlets’ reporting amounted to a “national security problem.”

Trump has said there was not any “particular reason” for the action against CNN, MS Now and Politico beyond their coverage, arguing “they purposely write negative news, and they do that because they want to … diminished the Republicans and a Republican administration.”

In the Thursday ruling to temporarily restore the three banned outlets’ White House access for 14 days, Kelly wrote that there was nothing in the record suggesting that revocation of the press passes was motivated by national security concerns. “Certainly, that is not what President Trump said when he announced that he was ‘banning’ plaintiffs from the White House – instead, he focused on the alleged lack of truthfulness and negativity of plaintiffs’ reporting,” Kelly wrote.

The dispute is unfolding against a midterm election calendar with just over a month remaining before the November federal vote. A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll found Trump’s overall public approval rating at 32 percent, described as an all-time low. Confidence in the news media polls lower, with just 28 percent of Americans expressing a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in newspapers, television channels and radio outlets to report the news fully, accurately and fairly, according to a 2025 Gallup survey.

Former President Bill Clinton commented on the dispute at the Clinton Global Initiative 2026 summit. “There were lots of times when I wanted to ban the White House press corps,” Clinton said. “And there’s a reason we have a constitution – because none of us are immune from being pissed off. But I’m glad I never did, and I’m glad I couldn’t. And these people shouldn’t. The law should be what it is.”

Blanche was asked what the First Amendment meant to him. “The law says – what the free press can do is they are free to report whatever they want,” Blanche said. “Of course, they can. But when it comes to the White House, it is the people’s house. It is a privilege and not a right to be there.” He added that “it is absolutely the president’s duty to make sure that the American people are hearing accurate news.”