CNN barred from Trump’s Air Force One flight

CNN was told by the White House on Sept. 25, 2026, that its journalists would not be allowed on Air Force One for a presidential trip the following day.

The denial followed a turbulent week after President Donald Trump said on Sept. 18 that he would ban the network and two other outlets, MS NOW and Politico, from the White House. Reporters were then kept out starting Sept. 19, before the ban was temporarily overturned by a federal judge on Sept. 24.

CNN was slated to accompany Trump on his plane as he traveled to attend a college football game in Knoxville, Tennessee, on Sept. 26, and planned to cover him as part of its responsibility with the White House TV pool, which rotates presidential TV coverage duties with four other networks as a cost-saving measure.

However, a note from the White House on the evening of Sept. 25 announcing the president’s schedule for the next day showed that CNN had been removed from the trip, the network reported.

CNN’s slot was not filled by the other member networks of the pool — Fox News, ABC, NBC and CBS. Instead, two conservative outlets, LindellTV and Real America’s Voice News, were assigned by the White House to provide TV coverage of the trip, according to Mediaite.

Trump repeated his disapproval of CNN’s coverage on the morning of Sept. 26 in a Truth Social post, using a pejorative description of MS NOW: “Why should perpetrators of FAKE NEWS, like CNN and MSDNC, be allowed access to a very sacred place, the White House? Despite my big Election Win, almost 100% of ‘TRUMP’ coverage is negative, and has been for years!”

As he was leaving for his Knoxville trip, the president was asked by an MS NOW reporter whether he preferred outlets that supported him to be part of the White House pool.

“I want real news. I love an open, free press. What I don’t like is the fake press,” he responded.

While the White House TV pool initially staged what was essentially a boycott of pool coverage of the president in response to Trump’s ban of CNN from the White House, its members released guidance over the weekend indicating that they would decide on an ad hoc basis whether to provide coverage if CNN was barred from the pool again, according to The New York Times.