President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he was prohibiting MS NOW, CNN, and Politico from accessing the White House due to their reporting on him, marking a significant escalation in his ongoing conflict with the media.
“Media organizations should not be able to repeatedly publish fiction and falsehoods when covering the President of the United States,” Trump stated on Truth Social, his social media platform.
Trump declared the ban “effective immediately” but offered no additional details. “Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow,” he added.
CNN reported in an article published Friday that their journalists “remained seated in their White House workspace near the briefing room as of this writing.”
“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 hindrance or interference from the government,” a CNN spokesperson said in a statement.
The spokesperson stated that the ban, if implemented, “would be an illegal assault on that fundamental and constitutionally-protected right.”
Speaking in the Oval Office on Friday, Trump explained the decision to ban the outlets was based on “cumulative stories.”
“They deliberately write negative coverage,” Trump said of the outlets. “They do this because they want to try and diminish the Republicans.”
Trump described it as “a simple ban.”
“I don’t want them in my office,” he said.
Friday’s ban follows previous restrictions imposed by the Trump administration on reporters.
Last year, the White House barred journalists from the Associated Press from the Oval Office, Air Force One, and press pool events after the outlet did not change the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
In another reorganization last year, several traditional outlets lost their workspaces in the Pentagon.
These traditional outlets, including NBC News and The New York Times, were replaced by other independent journalists and influencers generally seen as more supportive of the president.
In a memo at the time, the Defense Department described the change as a “media rotation program.”
MS NOW and Politico did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent on Friday.
Politico and Themoneytimes are both owned by Axel Springer SE.
This is a developing news story and will be updated.