The White House dropped CNN from the press pool covering President Donald Trump’s trip to Texas and Oklahoma on Thursday, a move that comes after a federal judge blocked the administration’s effort to more tightly control the media outlets that have access to the president.
CNN had been slated to travel on Air Force One and provide on-the-ground coverage, according to a schedule released Sunday by the White House. But updated guidance released Wednesday night had removed the network from that slot without explanation. No pool camera will travel with Trump, The Hill reported.
CNN confirmed its removal to NBC News.
It was the second time in less than a week that the White House kept CNN off a presidential travel pool. The network was also barred from flying with Trump to Tennessee over the weekend.
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A federal judge last week ordered the White House to restore press credentials for CNN, MS NOW and Politico for 14 days. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly found the outlets likely to succeed on their claim that the administration revoked their credentials without constitutionally adequate due process. The order covered access to White House grounds and did not specifically address travel with the president or TV pool assignments.
The outlets asked Kelly to extend the order while their lawsuit proceeds. CNN separately asked him to address the administration’s exclusion of the network from pool assignments. The Washington Sun has also signed onto an amicus brief filed in this case in support of the news outlets.
The administration’s response to the CNN filing is due Friday.
Trump imposed the ban last month, accusing the outlets of reporting “FICTION and LIES.” The ban drew condemnation from the White House Correspondents’ Association, and major television networks that rotate pool coverage also withheld coverage of Trump for several days in solidarity with the outlets.
In a Time magazine interview published Thursday, Trump suggested that he would continue to exclude the outlets and defended the restrictions, saying, “I haven’t had a good story on CNN for years.”
Asked whether he was ignoring Kelly’s order, Trump said he was not, then added, “When they say orders, what order? I’m not even aware.” He called Kelly “a very anti-Trump judge.”
According to a transcript of the interview, White House communications director Steven Cheung interjected at one point that restoring the outlets’ White House credentials was a separate issue from allowing the networks to cover events aboard Air Force One or in the Oval office.
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