Update (1:30 pm ET): Journalists from Politico, MS NOW, and CNN said their access to the White House has been restored, hours after they were denied access to the complex despite a federal judge's Thursday morning order temporarily reversing President Donald Trump's ban on the outlets. The director of the White House's press operations…
Page A7From§Eachthe early evening edition — 26 September 2026
Networks end boycott staged for CNN, resume White House coverage without CNN
As it ran on the front
Let's be clear about what happened here, because the coverage has gotten sloppy. That's an editorial judgment the Commander in Chief is entitled to make about who gets a badge. The other networks — ABC, CBS, NBC, even Fox — didn't see it that way. They suspended their own pool duty in solidarity, which is their right, though nobody suspended their subscription revenue while doing it.
Judge Kelly wanted to know — and that's a fair question for a courtroom, but it isn't the same as an answer. On September 24, Kelly ordered the administration to restore access to all three outlets immediately — temporary restraining order, likelihood of success on the merits — and CBS News covered the Trump-Xi summit that same day without the pool anyway, because the order and the reality on the ground were, at that point, two different documents.…
…(cont) Which brings us to Tennessee. The White House blocked CNN from Saturday's trip, banned all over again days after a judge ordered otherwise, and the administration is defending it the same way it always has this month: national security, full stop, no further comment — I mean, further comment available on request, but the position hasn't moved. Meanwhile the networks that walked out for CNN's sake five days earlier are now filing back into the pool without CNN, which I'm told is not abandonment, it's — it's scheduling. It's a scheduling issue. The solidarity ran five days. CNN's ban has already run longer than that, and it's still running.
So no, this isn't retaliation for coverage anyone disliked. It's a security posture. It was a security posture on the 21st, it was a security posture on the 24th when a judge said restore it, and it's apparently still a security posture now that the outlets who boycotted for CNN have gone back to work without her.
“They dressed it up as solidarity for five days, then quietly clocked back in like nothing happened, and CNN's still locked out of the building. That's not principle, that's a photo op with an expiration date — and the guy who wrote the guest list is the guy who gets to decide what you see of him.”
“This is a national security posture, plain and simple — it's about protecting the pool, protecting sensitive access, protecting — look, a federal judge asked whether that argument could ever hold up in a case like this, and nobody from our side has answered that yet, but the position hasn't changed. The other networks going back to pool duty isn't them giving up on CNN, it's just — it's scheduling. It's a scheduling matter.”
Earlier in this story
- Judge asks if national security can ever justify banning reporters; White House tries it again days later By Chip · the supper edition, 26 September 2026
The receipts
Television networks have suspended the presidential press pool after President Trump banned CNN, MS NOW and Politico from covering the White House. Now, the outlets are suing the administration to restore access. Mr.
It turns out that President Donald Trump may not have thought through all the consequences before he banned some of his most hated news outlets from the White House. After Trump declared CNN, MS NOW, and Politico "fake news" and exiled them from the White House grounds on Friday, the other networks that make up the White House press…
A federal judge questioned on Wednesday whether the Trump administration can rely on national security concerns to justify barring CNN, MS Now, and Politico from the White House. Could national security reasons “ever be a winner?” U.S.
The White House TV pool went dark this past week amid a standoff between CNN and the president. Network leaders, however, believe an indefinite suspension may be untenable.
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…
The White House continued to ban several news outlets despite a federal judge's order to temporarily restore access. This comes amid a vital meeting between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington, D.C. Here's our coverage of the events without access to the television pool usually staffed by five networks.
CNN won’t be able to join President Trump on a Saturday trip to Tennessee. He had banned CNN and two other news outlets from the White House, but a court order on Thursday restored their access.
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