CNN left off Air Force One for Trump's upcoming trip, White House signals in new media restriction
The motorcade of President Donald Trump departs the White House en route to the National Archives to greet China’s President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026, in Washington.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
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Jacquelyn Martin/AP
CNN was replaced by the conservative Real America’s Voice News. The news came just after journalists from three news outlets that Trump banned last week from the White House grounds returned to the executive complex with TV cameras, laptops and microphones in hand. Trump is scheduled travel to Knoxville, Tennessee, and attend a college football game between Tennessee and Texas.
The White House signaled Friday night that CNN would be left off Air Force One for President Donald Trump’s Saturday trip, the latest media restriction from the administration in an ongoing dispute with First Amendment implications.
The news organization was replaced by Real America’s Voice News, a conservative network, for the president’s trip to Knoxville, Tennessee, according to White House guidance. Trump is scheduled to attend a college football game between the University of Tennessee and the University of Texas at midday Saturday.
The news came just after journalists from CNN, along with MS NOW and Politico, which Trump banned last week from the White House grounds, returned to the executive complex with TV cameras in hand after a judge handed the organizations a reprieve.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly temporarily struck down the ban in an overnight ruling early Thursday, but his decision addressed “hard passes” to the White House grounds and didn’t directly address pool duties.
The temporary order from the judge also said nothing directly about Air Force One.
Media organizations believe the court decision covers the ‘pool’
Theodore Boutrous Jr., the news outlets’ attorneys, did not immediately respond to an email and phone call from The Associated Press requesting comment Friday night.
Earlier Friday, on “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” Boutrous had said the plaintiffs believe the recent court ruling also covers the issue of pool access.
The White House did not immediately respond to an email from AP requesting additional details on the decision.
For a while during the day, the U.S. network video pool for the White House was back in operation for the first time since Trump banned the three news outlets in an extraordinary showdown over media access.
At noon on CNN, viewers could see Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping touring the National Archives, along with Melania Trump and Peng Liyuan, Xi’s wife. The banner along the bottom of the screen read: “Trump and China’s Xi Visit National Archives.” It was a routine report from a state visit — but for the fact that CNN had not aired live video of Trump in several days.
“As of now, all systems are go,” said a person familiar with the pool, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the fluidity of the situation.
The pool consists of five major U.S. broadcast outlets that take turns shooting and sharing video. When the White House banned CNN — which belongs to the pool — from White House grounds, along with MS NOW and Politico, the other four pool providers declined to participate in a show of solidarity.
The spot that was meant for CNN on this flight has long been saved for a member of the U.S. network video pool, which Real America’s Voice News is not a part of.
CNN was not commenting directly earlier Friday, referring instead to its editorial coverage. But Brian Stelter, the network’s media analyst, posted on X that CNN had a pool assignment at the National Archives event and that the White House had approved the network’s credentials.
Throughout his second term, Trump has increasingly targeted media outlets whose coverage irritates him, taking administrative or legal action against several. Early last year he banished AP reporters from White House events because the organization wasn’t abiding by his executive order changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America.” The AP’s guidance says to acknowledge the new name when relevant.
The case is on appeal after a federal district judge ruled in AP’s favor.
The press pool was created decades ago by the White House Correspondents’ Association, a group of journalists who cover the president, to make sure a rotating roster always travel with the president.
The pool distributes in-person reports and imagery to the broader press corps and is designed to hold the nation’s chief executive accountable on behalf of the American public.
The association did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.
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