White House bans Politico from Air Force One in latest Trump attack on media
Por Alex Woodward — – World RSS Feed
White House bans Politico from Air Force One in latest Trump attack on media
Trump administration continues to block reporters from covering the president during legal battle over press access
Alex Woodward in New York Monday 05 October 2026 19:48 BST
- Bookmark
- Comments Go to comments
Bookmark popover
Removed from bookmarks
Close popover
Become an Independent member to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today.
Already a member?
Log in
The White House has blocked Politico from covering Donald Trump on Air Force One, blocking the media outlet from traveling with the president to cover the administration as part of a small group of correspondents that follow him out of town.
A spokesperson for Politico confirmed to The Independent that the White House excluded the outlet from Monday’s out-of-town travel pool. CNN first reported the ban.
The move comes days after a federal judge ordered the administration to restore press passes that belonged to several journalists from CNN, Politico and MS NOW, which the president said he was “banning” from the White House, likely in violation of the First and Fifth Amendments.
But reporters from CNN, and now Politico, have continued to be barred from Air Force One on days their outlets have been assigned to provide print or television coverage of the president’s travel.
Administration officials have sought to distinguish the removal of individual outlets and reporters from the White House, which a judge has rejected, to pool coverage on Air Force One. Last week, in an interview with TIME, Trump denied that he was violating the court order while White House communications director Steven Cheung said restoring press passes is “different than allowing the pool into the events in the Oval Office or on Air Force One.”
open image in galleryThe Independent has requested comment from the White House.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly is bringing the parties back to his courtroom on Thursday to determine whether to grant a preliminary injunction that would prevent the White House from stripping press access while the legal challenge is ongoing.
In a ruling granting a temporary restraining order last month, Kelly rejected the government’s arguments that the president’s ban was motivated by national security concerns.
“The record lacks factual support for defendants’ contention that the revocation of plaintiffs’ hard passes will in fact protect national security or that national security will be endangered if the court orders their passes reinstated while this litigation proceeds,” Kelly wrote.
In court filings, lawyers for the media outlets argue that the president’s actions “leave little doubt” that he will try to “immediately” impose a “complete ban” on their coverage unless the courts intervene.
The administration’s attempts to justify the ban, days after implementing it, are merely “weapons for the arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement that due process forbids,” lawyers wrote last week.
open image in galleryThe Department of Justice, meanwhile, has argued that the outlets failed to meet “minimum requirements of professionalism.”
Government lawyers wrote Friday that there is “no basis” for the court to grant them “full access to all areas of the White House” and other sensitive areas.
The outlets don’t have a “First Amendment right to these areas,” according to the Justice Department.
In an order that arrived around 1 a.m. September 24, Kelly required the White House to reinstate the outlets’ credentials and restore their access to the White House grounds, but it did not explicitly address their participation in the pool coverage.
Reporters from the three outlets were denied entry to the White House on the morning of September 24, despite Kelly’s order, but were allowed inside White House grounds around noon.
The following day, CNN learned that it would not be permitted to travel aboard Air Force One as the designated television network pooler for the president’s trip to Knoxville, Tennessee, according to the outlet’s lawyers.
“CNN received no official communication from the White House explaining its exclusion,” they wrote. “Because CNN was excluded and no replacement designated, no primary television network pooler accompanied the President on the trip.”
Judge Kelly’s temporary restraining order is set to expire October 8, the same day that the parties will convene for another court hearing in Washington, D.C.
Unless the judge issues a preliminary injunction, which will last through the duration of the legal battle ahead of a potential trial, harms against the press “will quickly compound,” lawyers wrote.
More about
White HouseDonald TrumpAir Force OnePoliticoCNNFirst Amendment
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Most popular
Popular videos
Bulletin
Read next
Fonte: – World RSS Feed
