Nicolai Haugsted
Trump sidelines CNN from second presidential trip since federal judge blocked ban.
CNN won its way back through the White House gates last week, but getting aboard the president’s plane is proving to be another matter entirely.
According to Rawstory, Donald Trump’s administration has removed CNN from the press pool assigned to cover his Thursday trip to Texas and Oklahoma, according to reports, marking the second presidential journey from which the network has been excluded since a federal judge temporarily blocked Trump’s broader White House ban.
The latest move highlights a significant gap in that court victory. Judge Timothy Kelly ordered the administration to restore CNN’s access to White House grounds, along with access for MS NOW and Politico, but his temporary order did not explicitly settle the separate question of who gets to travel aboard Air Force One.
CNN was originally scheduled to make the trip
CNN had been assigned a spot in the rotating television press pool for Thursday’s presidential travel.
The schedule called for the network to travel aboard Air Force One and provide pool coverage on the ground, according to NBC News. Trump’s itinerary includes a visit to a truck plant in Denton, Texas, followed by a speech in Durant, Oklahoma.
White House guidance subsequently dropped CNN from the traveling pool.
Such assignments carry significance beyond the individual network involved. Presidential pools exist because logistical and security restrictions make it impossible for the entire press corps to accompany a president everywhere.
Reporters and crews selected for pool duty therefore share their material with other news organizations, allowing broader coverage of events where space is limited.
Court ruling stopped one ban but left another door open
Trump announced last month that CNN, MS NOW and Politico would lose White House access after accusing the organizations of producing “fake news.”
All three challenged the decision in federal court.
Kelly, a Trump appointee, temporarily sided with the news organizations on September 24 and ordered their access restored for 14 days. His ruling found that the outlets were likely to succeed on their argument that their credentials had been revoked without constitutionally adequate due process.
Government claims that national security justified the original restrictions also received a skeptical response from the judge.
“Nothing in the record that predates this suit suggests that the revocation of Plaintiffs’ hard passes was motivated by national security concerns,” Kelly wrote.
Still, the order specifically addressed access to White House grounds.
Air Force One and other forms of presidential travel were left in murkier territory.
Tennessee came first
Thursday will not be the first test of that distinction.
CNN was also removed from the pool for Trump’s weekend trip to Tennessee despite previously being scheduled for duty. Real America’s Voice was selected for the Air Force One assignment instead.
Thursday’s exclusion therefore makes two presidential trips since Kelly’s ruling where CNN has been left off the plane.
CNN spokesperson Emily Kuhn confirmed the latest removal but did not provide further comment, according to NBC News.
Instead, Kuhn referred back to a statement from Theodore Boutrous, the attorney representing CNN, MS NOW and Politico in their continuing legal fight.
Boutrous has called Trump’s original ban “a blatant violation of the First Amendment and due process.”
Lawyers for the three organizations have since asked Kelly to extend his temporary order, accusing the administration of continuing to retaliate against journalism it dislikes.
Media rivals have rallied behind CNN
Trump’s battle with the three outlets has also produced an unusual display of unity among competing news organizations.
Major networks including Fox News, ABC News, CBS News and NBC News temporarily stopped providing television pool coverage after the original ban.
The Associated Press and numerous other media organizations have also supported the legal challenge, arguing that allowing a president to exclude outlets based on their journalism could threaten press access more broadly.
CNN’s temporary court victory did eventually restore its journalists’ ability to enter White House grounds, although implementation was hardly smooth.
CNN, MS NOW and Politico reporters initially encountered further access problems after Kelly issued his order. CNN and MS NOW later reported that some journalists were also excluded from coverage surrounding Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state dinner visit.
