US President Donald Trump on Friday said he would ban media outlets CNN, MSNOW and Politico from the White House over what he described as unfavourable coverage in his latest test of the US Constitution's First Amendment protection of press freedom.
President Donald Trump said Friday that he was banning CNN, MSNOW and Politico from the White House due to what he called unfavourable coverage, and threatened that more such prohibitions of media outlets could follow.
Trump wrote on his social media site that effective immediately, “I am banning” CNN, MSNOW and Politico “from the White House as a result of their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS!”
Later in the Oval Office, Trump claimed the "right" to keep media out of the White House, saying, "I think that somebody has a right to keep them away if they're going to write false stories all the time."
It is the administration’s latest test of constitutional First Amendment protections.
It follows Trump’s decision in February 2025 to keep Associated Press journalists out of the Oval Office, Air Force One and other events too small for a full press corps, in retaliation for the news outlet’s decision not to follow his lead in changing the Gulf of Mexico’s name.
Read moreTrump says AP will be restricted from White House until it adopts 'Gulf of America'
The AP filed suit and the case is ongoing.
Trump has long bristled at news coverage he sees as unfavourable to him and has a history of filing lawsuits against news organisations and lashing out at individual reporters in person or over social media.
Since returning to office, Trump has pursued legal action against The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the BBC and other news outlets.
Read moreTrump files $10 billion defamation lawsuit against BBC over edited Capitol speech
It is extremely rare for US presidents to bar news outlets from the White House altogether, although Trump banned a CNN reporter in his first term and Richard Nixon put restrictions on the Washington Post for its reporting on the Watergate scandal.
(FRANCE 24 with AP, Reuters and AFP)
