President Donald Trump told reporters on Tuesday that he had already expected banned outlets to appear at the United Nations General Assembly. “I knew that would happen!” he said as he argued again for keeping certain news organizations out of White House coverage.
According to Mediaite, the five networks that form the White House press pool, CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox News, and CNN, said Monday they would work together to suspend pool coverage of the president. They described the move as a response to the White House ban on CNN, MS NOW, and Politico.
Those three outlets have since taken the matter to federal court. Trump wrote on Truth Social that he does not expect to prevail in the case.
Trump answers a reporter on the lawsuit while standing with Britain’s prime minister
Fox News carried Trump’s U.N. speech on Tuesday. MS NOW left the coverage and aired a fact-check instead. CNN did not broadcast the speech. As Trump walked into the building, he told CNN correspondent Kaitlan Collins, “You shouldn’t be here!” Collins answered, “The United Nations allowed us in, sir.”
Trump later took questions while standing with British Prime Minister Andy Burnham. One reporter addressed the lawsuit filed by the outlets, asking, “If the district court decides against you, will you let the three media outlets back in?”
Trump said, “Well, they probably will because this is a judge who is not a particularly fair judge. You never know, but I’m talking about national security. I think we have a right to clean out fake news, you know? News is fake, and by the way, they said they weren’t gonna be here, but they came. I knew that would happen! What, are they not gonna be with [Chinese] President Xi [Jinping] tomorrow?”
He added, “We have a lot of fake news. I think when news is fake, and it’s actually dangerous, I think I have a right to clear it out.”
When a reporter followed up with, “How is it dangerous?” Trump answered, “When they make statements about the war, when they make false statements – false, malicious – and they don’t have sources, but they say they do. No, no, it’s very dangerous for our country, and I won’t stand for it.” Even though the ruling is not out, Trump has announced that he will challenge the decision, assuming it would go against him.
On Truth Social, Trump wrote that the networks “have drawn a great Judge, for them, a man who ruled in favor of Jim Acosta, who now seems to have disappeared from the Planet. The Judge’s name is Tim Kelly, and he was, sadly, appointed by “TRUMP.” In other words, almost without question and, as usual, we’ll go for appeal…”
During his General Assembly remarks earlier Tuesday, Trump called people who reported that the United States is low on munitions “cowards and traitors.” The source report noted that his Defense Department has recently confirmed that same assessment.
