U.S. President Donald Trump says he’s banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, effective immediately, for reporting what he called “fake news.”
The directive came in a Truth Social post.
“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 post reads.
“Other fake news media outlets to follow,” he warned.
Trump has long railed against the media, often claiming he’s a victim of unfair coverage and clashing with reporters who question his policies. Despite that, he didn’t provide any specific examples of what led to the ban.
It’s not clear if the president can actually bar those outlets from the White House.
CNN’s Chief Media Analyst, Brian Stelter, discussed Trump’s threat on CNN News Central, calling it “unusual.”
“Right now CNN’s team remains at the White House working just like a usual, normal Friday afternoon,” he said.
“There’s no indication that the administration is taking any steps to actually follow through on his threat. So even though the threat is quite serious and would have real implications for the First Amendment and for press freedom in the United States, right now there’s no indication that the White House is following through…”
CNN has since released a statement, calling Trump’s threat an attack on its constitutionally-protected right to report the news.
“CNN stands fully behind our White House team and their fair and accurate reporting. We have a right under the U.S. Constitution to do that reporting without hinderance or interference from the government. Should the ban which President Trump threatened go ahead, it would an illegal assault on that fundamental and constitutionally-protected right.”
Trump addressed the threat later Friday when he faced reporters in the Oval Office.
When asked if any specific story coverage prompted the move, the president said “no.”
“It’s really just cumulative stories over the last few years, you get sick of it,” he said.
“They purposely write negative news, and they do that because they want to try and diminish Republicans and a Republican administration.”
When asked if he thought such a ban could hold up in court, Trump seemed to shrug off the possibility of a legal loss.
“I think it’s good to point it out whether it survives (a legal challenge) or doesn’t … I don’t think a court should allow fake news to be written day after day after day, I think that somebody has a right to keep them away if they’re gonna write false stories all the time.”
Aside from the three outlets singled out in his ban, the president also aired his grievances with the New York Times and The Washington Post.
“They are crumby papers … we are probably not going to display those papers anymore in the White House, but we haven’t taken the step of throwing them out, but they’re fake news.”
When pressed for specific details on how a ban on certain outlets would be implemented, the president merely called it a “very simple ban.”
“I don’t want them in my office,” he said. “I don’t want them here. I would say the ban would go as far as you can, and if they can straighten themselves out, I’d love it.”
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