White House bars CNN from covering upcoming Trump trip, broadcaster says

White House bars CNN from covering upcoming Trump trip September 26, 2026American news broadcaster CNN said its journalists were not allowed to board Air Force One for a planned trip with President Donald Trump on Saturday. CNN was scheduled to travel on Air Force One to Knoxville, Tennessee, where Trump was expected to watch a college football game. The news organization was to be the representative of the TV press pool for the weekend, meaning that it would cover the president and share video and information with the four other big networks that are part of the press pool. CNN was replaced by Real America's Voice News, a conservative network, the Associated Press reported. The episode represents the latest showdown between the Trump administration and media networks that the president believes to be unfavorable in their coverage. Trump bans CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from White House Trump earlier this week barred CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House after he said the networks report "fiction and lies." Major TV networks, including DW, then cut off their pooled coverage of the president in solidarity. A federal judge temporarily struck down the ban in a ruling on Thursday after the outlets filed a lawsuit. But the order from the judge addressed "hard passes" to the White House grounds and didn't directly address pool duties. Edited by: Rana Taha If you rely on our team for trusted reporting, please take a moment to select us as your Preferred Source on Google by clicking here and hitting the "star" or "preferred" button, so you'll always see our verified news first.