Trump bars CNN, MS NOW and Politico from White House
Tehran - BORNA - “I am proud to announce that, effective immediately, I am banning Fake News CNN, MSNOW … and Politico … from the White House as a result of their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS!” Trump posted on Truth Social on Friday.
“Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America. Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow.”
Just minutes after the announcement, reporters asked Trump at an event in the Oval Office to explain on what grounds he was banning CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House.
He said the outlets “purposely write negative news.”
“You get so tired of reading and seeing fake news. When you look at CNN, it’s just fake. That’s why their ratings are no good. When you look at MS NOW …, it’s fake news,” he added.
“And when you look at Politico ... the stories they wrote are fake. So there’s a lot of news, and there may be others to join them, and maybe they can get better,” he further added. “But our country has to have honest news.”
Asked by reporters what he meant by other outlets “to follow”, Trump named The New York Times and The Washington Post as what he called “fake news.”
Trump gave no further details on how the White House would implement the ban.
As of late Friday afternoon local time, CNN, MS NOW, and Politico reporters were still on the White House grounds, and there was no immediate indication that Trump would actually follow through on the threat.
Politico responded to Trump’s threat, saying, Politico will “continue to fairly report on this White House and future ones. We will vigorously defend our First Amendment rights against any attempt to restrict them.”
CNN replied, “We have a right under the US Constitution to do that reporting without hindrance or interference from the government.”
“Should the ban which President Trump threatened go ahead, it would be an illegal assault on that fundamental and constitutionally-protected right,” CNN added.
MS NOW has yet to respond to Trump’s threat.
Since his 2016 election campaign, Trump has been regularly attacking the outlets he refers to as “fake news.” Some of these attacks have led to legal action that continues to this day.
However, during his second term in office, Trump and his administration have upped the ante and punished certain media outlets, both in the courtroom and through regulatory action.
Individual reporters have also been targeted in person or over social media, sometimes in strikingly personal terms.
Last year, Trump barred Associated Press reporters from the Oval Office, Air Force One and other events in retaliation for the news outlet’s decision not to follow his lead in changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico, which lies partially in Mexican and other waters.
The AP filed a lawsuit, and the case is still ongoing.
Other news outlets targeted by Trump and the administration include The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the BBC.
His administration is also involved in a long-simmering confrontation involving ABC over renewal of its broadcast licenses.
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