CNN says White House excluded it from Air Force One trip
CNN said the White House removed it from the media arrangements for President Donald Trump’s flight to a college football game in Tennessee, replacing its scheduled place with conservative outlet Real America’s Voice. The move came during a continuing dispute over press access and after a federal judge temporarily blocked a broader White House ban.
CNN said it was excluded from Air Force One for President Donald Trump’s trip to a college football game in Tennessee on Saturday, in the latest dispute between the network and the White House over media access. CNN said it had been scheduled to fly with the president as part of the rotating US network video pool for a visit to the University of Tennessee’s game against the University of Texas. White House guidance issued on Friday night instead listed Real America’s Voice.
The network said the change followed the return of journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico to the White House complex with television cameras. The outlets had been barred from the grounds by Trump the previous week, but US District Judge Timothy Kelly temporarily blocked that restriction in an overnight ruling on Thursday. Kelly’s order concerned the organisations’ White House “hard passes” and did not directly address access to Air Force One.
It also did not specifically determine whether the ruling applied to pool assignments. The White House did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press. A written pool report said there was no television pool for Saturday’s trip.
Real America’s Voice said it had taken over the responsibility and would make its video feeds available to other outlets. CNN did not comment directly, instead referring to its coverage of the dispute. The White House Correspondents’ Association created the press pool decades ago so that a rotating group of journalists could travel with the president and share reports and images with the wider press corps.
The five major broadcast outlets that normally provide the television pool had previously declined to participate after CNN, MS NOW and Politico were barred. The dispute is part of a broader pattern of conflict between Trump and news organisations whose coverage he criticises. The Associated Press is separately appealing a ruling concerning its access after it was barred from White House events earlier in the year.
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