Trump Administration Blocks CNN Despite Court Order on Press Access

The White House blocked Donald Trump's television press pool coverage by CNN during presidential trips to Texas and Oklahoma on October 1. This action follows a ruling by U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly ordering the administration to restore access for CNN, MSNBC, and Politico after the president banned them for publishing what he termed fake news. CNN had also been barred from Air Force One during a previous trip to Tennessee.

In response to the ban, the administration launched Trump TV, a 24-hour YouTube stream on the White House account featuring reruns of old speeches. The channel has seen plummeting viewership, at times being outperformed by accidental livestreams from former Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. In a show of solidarity with the banned outlets, NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox News suspended their pooled coverage, leaving Real America's Voice as the sole television pool outlet for Thursday's activities.

CNN, MSNBC, and Politico have filed a new request with the court to prevent the administration from reinstituting the ban, alleging viewpoint discrimination. Legal representative Theodore J. Boutrous argued that the White House is inconsistently implementing an unconstitutional ban to punish reporting the president dislikes. The Trump administration is required to respond to the latest court filing by October 3.