White House to ban CNN, MS NOW, Politico over ‘fake news’ claims

Benjamin Weiss

WASHINGTON (CN) — President Donald Trump said Friday he would ban CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, claiming the media outlets had reported “fake news” about him and his administration.

It’s a major escalation in the president’s yearslong feud with the media and one that is sure to draw the ire of the White House Correspondents’ Association as well as a legal challenge.

Writing in a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said the bans were “effective immediately” and resulted from what he framed as the outlets’ reporting of “fake news.”

“Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States of America,” the president wrote, tacking on a suggestion that other news media outlets might soon get the boot.

Trump has long been at odds with CNN, who he has for years claimed unfairly covered him. The president in 2018 briefly banned then-CNN reporter Jim Acosta from the White House after a clash in the briefing room.

And in his social media post he took particular aim at Politico, accusing the beltway-focused politics publication of receiving an “illegal” government subscription to the tune of $8 million under the Biden administration. Subscriptions to Politico content, common for government agencies, were some of the first federal spending to be slashed under the second Trump administration by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

Speaking to remaining reporters in the Oval Office on Friday afternoon, Trump defended his intention to ban some of their colleagues.

“They’re fake news, and you get so tired of reading and seeing fake news,” the president said. “Our country has to have honest news. You don’t have a country unless you have borders, good voting … and you need a free press — you need a fair press and an honest press.”

Trump contended there was no significance to the timing of his media ban, saying it was a response to “cumulative stories” from the outlets over the last several years. “They want to diminish the Republicans and a Republican administration,” he added.

As of Friday afternoon, the White House Correspondents’ Association had yet to respond publicly to the bans. Spokespeople for CNN, MS NOW and Politico did not immediately return requests for comment.

In a statement to Courthouse News, a CNN spokesperson said the network stood behind its White House team and its “fair and accurate” reporting. The spokesperson also pointed out it would be against the law for Trump to follow through on his promise to ban CNN journalists.

“We have a right under the U.S. Constitution to do that reporting without hindrance or interference with the government,” the the CNN spokesperson said. “Should the ban which President Trump threatened go ahead, it would be an illegal assault on that fundamental and constitutionally protected right.”

A spokesperson for Politico told Courthouse News the publication would continue to report on the White House and would “vigorously defend” its First Amendment rights against any attempt to restrict them.

“The claims that Politico received government subsidies are false and have been thoroughly debunked,” the spokesperson said.

A representative for MS NOW did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump’s move to cut media organizations he doesn’t like out of the White House is almost certain to draw a First Amendment challenge in the courts. The Associated Press in February 2025 sued the administration after the president barred its reporters from the Oval Office over a dispute stemming from Trump’s renaming of the Gulf of Mexico.

The AP argued at the time that the ban constituted illegal retaliation by the executive branch and was a gambit to control free speech.

Acosta, removed from the briefing room under the first Trump administration, got his press pass back following his own lawsuit in which a federal judge ordered the White House to permit him to return. Trump ultimately settled with Acosta after which his credentials were permanently reinstated.