The White House on Wednesday removed CNN from the press pool that’s set to cover a trip by President Donald Trump on Thursday, escalating a feud with the cable network after a federal judge blocked the administration’s push to restrict its media access.CNN had been designated to travel with Trump on Thursday, according to a press rotation document the White House released Sunday.But when the daily guidance came out for his scheduled visit to a truck manufacturing facility in Denton, Texas, followed by remarks in Durant, Oklahoma, it did not list CNN as providing pool coverage.The move comes less than a week after a federal judge halted Trump’s effort to ban CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House.
It also comes after the White House barred CNN from flying on Air Force One over the weekend when Trump traveled to Tennessee, when the network was scheduled to provide pool coverage.(The judge’s order was limited to media access on the White House grounds.)Emily Kuhn, a spokesperson for CNN, confirmed the cable network’s removal from planned pool coverage but did not provide additional comment.
Instead, she pointed to an earlier statement from Theodore Boutrous, an attorney representing CNN, MS NOW and Politico in their fight with the White House over press access.“As we have said from the beginning, the President’s ban of CNN, MS NOW and POLITICO from the White House is a blatant violation of the First Amendment and due process,” Boutrous said in a statement Monday, when the three news outlets asked a federal judge to extend his pause on Trump’s ban.The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about CNN’s exclusion from Thursday’s trip.The White House press pool is a group of media outlets that share video, editorial information and costs for coverage of high-profile officials and events involving the president anywhere in the world.Under the system, each day’s designated “poolers” represent the wider press cor...