President Donald Trump’s administration barred CNN from traveling aboard Air Force One on Saturday, just two days after a federal judge ordered the White House to restore the network’s access.
CNN had been scheduled to serve as the television pool for Trump’s trip to Knoxville, Tennessee, where he was set to attend a college football game between the University of Tennessee and the University of Texas. Instead, White House guidance listed conservative network Real America’s Voice News for the trip.
Real America’s Voice is not a member of the five-network television pool, which rotates responsibility for recording presidential events and sharing the footage with other news organizations.
The latest restriction came less than 48 hours after U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly temporarily blocked Trump’s ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico from White House grounds. Kelly, whom Trump appointed during his first term, found that the administration had failed to provide the outlets with due process before revoking their access.
Reporters from all three organizations returned to the White House following the ruling.
CNN also resumed its role in the television pool Friday, providing coverage as Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the National Archives. The other four television pool members had refused to participate after CNN was barred last week, leaving several presidential events without the usual network video coverage.
Kelly’s temporary order specifically addressed the outlets’ White House “hard passes” and did not directly address Air Force One or pool assignments. The news organizations have argued that the court’s ruling should apply to their pool access as well.
Trump, meanwhile, renewed his attacks on CNN Saturday morning.
“Why should perpetrators of FAKE NEWS, like CNN and MSDNC, be allowed access to a very sacred place, the White House?” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The president also complained about negative coverage of his administration, days after criticizing CNN for supposedly failing to cover his events during the media standoff.
CNN correspondent Kaitlan Collins disputed that claim after Trump confronted her during the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where the White House had no authority over her credentials.
“We never said we were never going to cover the president,” Collins said.
Trump announced last week that CNN, MS NOW and Politico would no longer be permitted at the White House, accusing the organizations of spreading “fiction and lies.” The three outlets sued, alleging the ban violated their First and Fifth Amendment rights.
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The dispute also disrupted the White House television pool. ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox News declined to provide substitute crews after CNN was removed from its scheduled assignments, temporarily leaving the administration without the network equipment normally used to distribute video and audio of the president.
Normal pool operations had only resumed Friday. And as of Saturday morning, CNN was off the rotation again.
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