Key Points
- The White House revoked access Saturday for journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico, carrying out a directive announced one day earlier by President Donald Trump.
- Trump said the three outlets were barred because of perceived negative coverage, though he did not identify a specific report that triggered the action.
- White House correspondents Betsy Klein of CNN, Akayla Gardner of MS NOW and Cheyenne Haslett of Politico were turned away from the grounds and had their credentials disabled or confiscated.
The White House on Saturday revoked press access for journalists working for CNN, MS NOW and Politico, escalating President Donald Trump’s long-running dispute with news organizations whose coverage he considers unfair.
CNN White House reporter Betsy Klein, MS NOW correspondent Akayla Gardner and Politico reporter Cheyenne Haslett were each turned away when they arrived at the White House, with their credentials either deactivated or confiscated.
The move came one day after Trump said the three organizations would no longer be permitted inside the White House because of what he characterized as false and deliberately negative reporting. Trump did not point to a specific story that prompted the decision, saying instead that it resulted from a broader accumulation of coverage over several years.
All three organizations said the loss of physical access would not stop their coverage of the administration.
The White House Correspondents’ Association, which represents journalists covering the presidency, called on the administration to reverse the decision.
“Today’s action revoking access for journalists from CNN, POLITICO, and MSNOW violates the First Amendment,” WHCA President Jacqui Heinrich said in a statement on Saturday. The organization said allowing the government to exclude one outlet because of its reporting could create a precedent affecting other news organizations.
The dispute quickly spread beyond the three affected outlets: The Associated Press (AP), the Washington Post and the New York Times were among the news organizations that criticized the restrictions, according to the reports provided. Some conservative commentators and Fox News contributors also objected, arguing that disagreement with an outlet’s journalism should not determine whether its reporters receive White House access.
The decision also appeared to catch parts of the Trump administration by surprise: Politico reported several current and former White House officials were unaware the restrictions were coming, while CNN reported that White House staff members had been caught off guard by Trump’s announcement.
Trump has also suggested other news organizations could eventually be barred, extending a broader fight over press access that has already included changes to the White House press pool and tighter restrictions on journalists at the Pentagon.
CNN is owned by Warner Bros Discovery. MS NOW is part of Versant, which was spun out of Comcast’s NBC Universal earlier this year. Politico is owned by German media company Axel Springer.
