The White House dropped CNN from traveling with President Donald Trump on Air Force One to attend a college football game in Tennessee on Saturday.
The decision removes CNN from its spot on the rotating pool schedule, which was released by the White House on Friday evening and includes coverage of the president’s trip to watch the University of Texas take on the University of Tennessee on Saturday in what the Tennessean is calling “the Tennessee Volunteers’ biggest game of the year” at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media on the South Lawn of the White House on September 26, 2026, in Washington, DC. Trump is traveling to Knoxville, Tennessee to attend the University of Tennessee vs. University of Texas College football game. (Aaron Schwartz/Getty Images)
“The White House is barring CNN from flying on Air Force One on Saturday as part of the news outlet’s duties covering the president on behalf of major television networks,” CNN reported Friday evening.
“No outlet was listed as replacing CNN, meaning there will be no television pool coverage of his trip,” CNN continued.
“Such interventions in the television rotation have historically been rare. Typically, the five networks decide who is up for rotation,” Politico said on Saturday. The five networks are CNN, CBS News, ABC News, NBC News, and Fox News.
Politico was removed from White House access by President Trump on September 18, along with CNN and MS NOW, “as a result of their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS,” Trump declared in a Truth Social post at the time.
“Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow,” Trump added.
President Donald J. Trump makes an announcement on Most Favored Nation Pricing for State Medicaid Programs in the Oval Office, Friday, September 18, 2026. (Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian)
As a result of the September 18 removal, CNN was not allowed in the primary pool covering the president’s ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new White House helipad on Monday or on Air Force One with the president as he traveled to New York to address the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.
CNN, along with MS NOW and Politico, sued the administration, calling their removal from the White House “a blatant First Amendment violation because it singled them out for the content of their coverage,” Breitbart News reported. Early Thursday morning, U.S. District Judge Tim Kelly ordered the White House to “immediately return, reinstate, and restore” the three outlets’ access.
According to CNN, “regular coverage resumed on Friday, with CNN serving as part of the pool as Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping visited the National Archives.”
Trump roasted CNN’s Kaitlan Collins as he arrived in New York to speak before the United Nations General Assembly on September 22 and spotted her in the group of press, stating that CNN “shouldn’t be covering” him at the event:
“It’s an honor to be here,” Trump said. “I’m surprised that CNN is here covering me. You shouldn’t be here. You should not be here covering me. You said you weren’t going to cover me — you shouldn’t be covering me.”
Breitbart News noted:
On any given day, the president has a pool of reporters with him, including one to two television networks with videographers and producers or correspondents — known as primary and secondary pool TV — a handful of print journalists, a radio reporter, a New Media reporter, and photographers.
WATCH — Trump Credits Breitbart News for Fair Coverage While Blasting Fake News Media Outlets:
On Monday, Vice President JD Vance defended the president’s decision to exclude media that report Fake News from having “special access inside the White House”:
They can still report on the Trump White House. They can still get the public reports. They can still, of course, talk to people in the administration and outside the administration. What the president has said is, we’re not going to give you special access inside the White House. The way that I think about it is, if you go back to the Biden administration or the Obama administration, compare, let’s say, Politico to Breitbart. If you actually look at the objective analysis, Politico and Breitbart are — Politico is as anti-Trump as Breitbart was anti-Obama or anti-Biden. Now, why on God’s green earth would Donald Trump be expected to give Politico special access when nobody in the media expected the Biden administration or the Obama administration to give Breitbart special access? It’s about basic fairness.
“One of the first moves made by recently departed White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in January 2025 was to add a New Media seat to briefings,” Breitbart News noted, “often calling on outlets such as Breitbart News and well-known podcast creators for the first question of the session.”
