White House renews media fight, barring CNN from Trump trip

Bloomberg News, Bloomberg News on Sep 25, 2026

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WASHINGTON — The White House is refusing to allow CNN to travel on Air Force One to cover President Donald Trump’s trip to Tennessee Saturday, the network reported.

A White House schedule of the president’s public itinerary for Saturday, released late Friday, lists no major U.S. television networks in either the in-town pool that covers him in Washington or out-of-town travel pool of journalists set to travel with Trump.

CNN reported Friday evening that it had been scheduled to fly aboard Air Force One as the representative of the television networks, but was left off the itinerary. The network declined to comment beyond its reporting. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The move represents a fresh escalation in the Trump administration’s efforts to restrict which news outlets are allowed proximity to the presidency. Trump last week barred CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, citing coverage he called unfavorable, ramping up his efforts to curb press access.

Major television networks cut off their pooled coverage of the president in solidarity, limiting visuals of Trump during a news-heavy week centered on diplomacy and foreign policy, where he met with world leaders on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York and hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House.

The television transmission pool, comprised of CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox, rotates responsibilities for filming and distributing footage of certain presidential events, sharing resources for expensive television coverage of the president.

CNN, MS NOW and Politico challenged the president’s ban in federal court, calling it a blatant violation of the First Amendment, and won a temporary reprieve from U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly, a Trump appointee. Numerous outlets, including Bloomberg News, joined a legal brief submitted to the court in support of the banned organizations.

The college football game Trump is traveling to will be heavily televised, as 14th-ranked Tennessee hosts No. 1 Texas in a stadium that seats more than 101,000 fans.

The game kicks off at noon Eastern time, airing on ABC. ESPN’s flagship college football show, College GameDay, will air live from Knoxville Saturday morning.

The administration-initiated spat comes at a politically difficult time for the president, whose Republican Party is at risk of losing control of the House and Senate in November’s midterm elections amid voter discontent over the economy and high gasoline prices stemming from the war he launched with Israel against Iran.

Trump this week complained about the lack of coverage created by his media ban, faulting CNN and MS NOW for missing out on his summit with Xi.

(Courtney Subramanian contributed to this report.)