Trump bans CNN, MSNOW, and Politico from White House over “fake news”
Trump says he is barring the three outlets effective immediately, citing coverage he calls fiction and lies, and warns other media organizations could follow.
WASHINGTON D.C. — Donald J. Trump said he is banning CNN, MSNOW, and Politico from the White House, citing coverage he called “fake news.”
Trump announced the restriction on truthsocial and threatened that more outlets could face the same treatment, according to pbs. He did not provide details on how the ban would work, according to pbs.
Here is the full post on truthsocial: “Trump bans CNN, MSNOW, and Politico from White House: https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/all-things-trump/trump-bans-cnn-msnow-and-politico-white-house” on September 21, 2026 at 12:59 AM ET.
This is Trump’s 2nd message released today, and the last post was 0 minutes ago, and it is not part of a thread. On average, Trump produces 18 posts per day since his inauguration on January 20, 2025. The move fits a broader pattern in Trump’s recent messaging, with 17 of his 546 posts over the last 30 days classified as media bias posts.
Trump shared a report on the ban by mentioning the source (see justthenews). He wrote that effective immediately he was barring the outlets “as a result of their constant “reporting” FAKE NEWS,” according to justthenews. “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,” he wrote, adding that “Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow,” according to justthenews.
Reporters from the three organizations could not enter the White House the day after the announcement, according to pbs. Betsy Klein of CNN and Akayla Gardner of MSNOW both reported on air that officers turned them away and deactivated their press badges when they arrived for work, according to pbs. Politico said its White House reporter Cheyenne Haslett also could not enter and had her badge confiscated, according to pbs.
President Donald J. Trump announced a ban on CNN, MSNOW, and Politico from the White House at WASHINGTON D.C.
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Gardner reported that she walked through two gates before an officer told her that her badge was disabled and asked her to hand it over, saying the decision “was above him,” according to pbs. Klein said a Secret Service agent took her badge and referred her to the White House press office, according to npr. An MSNOW producer reached the grounds, while an officer also disabled a photographer’s badge, according to pbs.
All three outlets signaled they would defend their access. “We will vigorously defend our First Amendment rights,” Politico Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Greenberger said in a statement to the Politico newsroom, according to pbs. A CNN statement said the network “will not be deflected from our duty to hold the government and other public bodies to account,” according to pbs. MSNOW said it “intends to take any and all steps necessary to defend our First Amendment rights and the essential role of independent journalism in our democracy,” according to pbs.
The removal could upend the traditional five-network television pool that travels with the president and tracks his every move, according to pbs. Network correspondents usually work weekends when the president is in Washington or at nearby Camp David, according to pbs. White House Correspondents’ Association President Jacqui Heinrich called on the administration to restore the outlets’ access, warning that a standard used to exclude one outlet could apply to any outlet in the future, according to pbs.
Asked what he meant by other outlets “to follow,” Trump named The New York Times and The Washington Post as what he called “fake news,” according to aljazeera. Trump said the outlets “purposely write negative news,” and cited no specific story behind the decision, describing it as frustration built up over the last two years, according to npr.
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