Vice President JD Vance called the ban on the news site POLITICO 'totally appropriate' on Monday, 21 September. Two days later, the newsletter Status reported that Vance was the unnamed source for a June POLITICO story on Iran. The White House had cited that story to defend the ban.
Vance was speaking on a White House briefing call where reporters could quote him but not name him, the newsletter said. If Status is correct, the White House was citing a POLITICO report based on a briefing it had authorised. POLITICO is suing alongside CNN and MS NOW over the revocation of their White House press passes.
What the Iran Story Said
POLITICO ran the story on Friday 12 June, quoting a senior official who gave a preliminary deal ending the war with Iran an 80 to 85 per cent chance. On Wednesday 17 June, President Trump signed an interim memorandum with Iran calling for an end to the fighting and reopening the Strait of Hormuz. ABC News, a US network, reported the same figure at the time, but Trump's ban did not name it.
In a letter to POLITICO on Tuesday 22 September, White House press staff named that story as one of six examples in a list they called incomplete. It covered, in their words, reporting that 'threatened national security and/or spread falsehoods.' Nowhere did the letter say which charge applied, or call the odds wrong. US District Judge Timothy Kelly later wrote that this wording left open whether any of the six touched on security.
Vance's Defence and the Industry Response
Trump posted on social media on Friday 18 September that he was 'banning' the three outlets, dismissing their reporting as fake. Vance spoke at Maryland's Joint Base Andrews three days later. He said Trump was not banning outlets but denying special access to newsrooms the vice president accused of propaganda, since all three could still report. A White House rapid response account posted part of that exchange on X, shown below.
.@VP: "He's not banning media outlets. What he's doing is saying we're not going to give you special access to the White House if you engage in what is effectively propaganda." 💯 https://t.co/H0GMoO7uV5 pic.twitter.com/BZpnS4pA4l
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) September 21, 2026
Officials made a different case on paper, arguing that leaks pull security staff from other work to trace each one to its source. In the same filing, Justice Department lawyers said the president could conclude that bona fide journalists name their sources rather than rely on anonymous ones. Rival US networks ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, and NBC News refused to send stand-in crews when officials took CNN off the shared filming rota.
What Happens Next in Court
Kelly, a Trump appointee, ordered the White House on Thursday 24 September to return the outlets' passes for 14 days while the case continues. Kelly found the news organisations likely to show the White House revoked their passes without constitutionally adequate due process, and called the letters' standard 'so vague it hardly does the trick.'
The outlets have until 5:00pm on Friday 25 September to answer the revocation letters in writing. Kelly expedited their preliminary injunction request, with the motion due by Monday 28 September. Theodore Boutrous, a lawyer for the newsrooms, called the order 'a strong ruling vindicating freedom of the press...' The White House gave the newsletter no comment.
