Thursday’s spectacle was embarrassing, but mostly because it was so predictable
Page B1From§Eachthe early evening edition — 24 September 2026
Court orders Trump to unban CNN, he blames CNN for not airing Xi via pool he still bans
As it ran on the front
On Friday, President Trump announced he was banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, accusing the outlets of "purposefully negative stories." By Saturday the announcement had teeth: journalists from all three were turned away at the gates. The White House Correspondents' Association president called that same weekend for access to be restored "immediately."
It was not. On Monday, the networks that still had their credentials — ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox — stopped covering the president's scheduled pool assignments in solidarity with CNN, which had just been dropped from its slot for the trip to the United Nations. That same Monday, the White House launched its own channel, Trump TV, a 24/7 stream on YouTube. The inaugural video was Trump speaking at Mount Rushmore in July.…
…(cont) The ban held for five more days, until a federal judge ordered it reversed. On Thursday, the White House restored access for CNN, MS NOW and Politico — though it took several hours to actually happen, and one piece of the arrangement did not come back with them: the White House television pool, the rotating group that feeds live video to everyone else, stayed suspended.
That was the same Thursday Xi Jinping's visit brought live coverage to the grounds. And it was the same Thursday Trump complained, by name, that CNN and MS NOW had not carried the visit live. "CNN and MSDNC, to show you how fake they are, today refused to cover" it, he said. The outlets he had just been ordered to let back in were now being blamed for not airing, live, the one piece of coverage that runs through the pool he has not let back in.
None of this needs to resolve into a single motive to be worth writing down; it resolves fine as a sequence. Ban the outlets. Get sued. Restore the outlets under order. Keep the pool arrangement that would let the restored outlets do the thing you're mad they didn't do. Complain anyway. Each step checks out on its own. Strung together, they describe a press operation that spent five days building a replacement channel and one afternoon complaining that the channel it didn't restore wasn't working.
The judge's order covers three names. It does not cover the pool. Nobody has ordered that back yet.
“They ban the networks, get sued, let them back in, then gripe that the networks they just un-banned didn't broadcast live off a feed they're still sitting on — that's not confusion, that's a guy holding both ends of a leash acting surprised the dog can't move. You want a free press badge? Fine. You want the camera plugged in too? That cord's staying in the drawer.”
“The President has every right to manage who gets a badge to his own house, that's just basic security — and when a court says put them back, he complied, immediately, well, within several hours, which, okay, I guess "immediately" is doing some work there. But pointing out that the outlets he just let back in still didn't cover the Xi visit the way the moment deserved, that's just holding the press accountable. Did I say "the way the moment deserved"? Because the pool that would've let them air it live is the one we're, huh, still not letting back in.”
The receipts
After President Trump announced this week he was banning Politico, CNN and MS NOW from accessing the White House, the three media outlets reported Saturday their journalists were denied access to the executive premises. White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) President Jacqui Heinrich called on the White House to “immediately”…
President Trump blasted CNN and MS NOW on Thursday over their coverage of his meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, which did not include live video coverage and came as a federal judge reinstated the outlets' White House access. "CNN and MSDNC, to show you how fake they are, today refused to cover one of...
The White House denied CNN, MS NOW and Politico journalists access to its grounds Saturday, the networks announced, a day after President Trump said he was banning them from the premises after accusing them of producing "purposefully negative stories." “Earlier this morning MS NOW journalists were denied access to the White House…
The major US television networks launched what was described as a boycott against TV pool coverage of President Donald Trump on Monday after the White House dropped CNN from the network's scheduled pool assignment, escalating the administration's assault on the country's most prominent media organizations and press freedom. CNN was set…
A judge ordered President Trump to reverse his ban on three media outlets, but it took several hours for them to get back in. The White House TV pool remains suspended.
The White House on Monday launched Trump TV, a 24/7 stream on YouTube, days after President Trump banned reporters from CNN, Politico and MS NOW over their coverage of him and his administration. The inaugural video was a stream of Trump speaking at Mount Rushmore on July 3 as part of a livestream titled "Trump...
The White House television pool was in limbo Thursday as the status of the major networks’ place in the press pool remained unclear following the reinstatement of CNN’s access to White House grounds. Journalists from ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox News were on hand at the White House Thursday ready to cover Chinese President Xi...
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.