US President Donald Trump said Friday he was banning three major media outlets from the White House, returning to his long-running branding of legacy media outlets as “fake news.”
In a post on Truth Social, the president said the three outlets—CNN, Politico, and MS NOW—would not be permitted at the White House, “as a result of their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS!”
“Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America,” Trump wrote. “Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow.”
In a statement to Newsweek, a CNN spokesperson said: “CNN stands fully behind our White House team and their fair and accurate reporting. We have a right under the U.S. Constitution to do that reporting without hindrance or interference from the government. Should the ban which President Trump threatened go ahead, it would be an illegal assault on that fundamental and constitutionally-protected right.”
Politico said it intended to “fairly report” on Trump, as well as future White House administrations.
“We will vigorously defend our First Amendment rights against any attempt to restrict them,” the outlet told Newsweek in a statement. “The claims that Politico received government subsidies are false and have been thoroughly debunked.”
MS NOW had no immediate comment, a representative told Newsweek late Friday.
The president’s announcement sparked criticism, including from Seth Stern, the chief of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, who said in a statement shared with Newsweek that it was “difficult to imagine a more blatant violation of the First Amendment than Trump banning news outlets from the People’s House for reporting critically on the government.
Courtesy Newsweek
