Donald Trump’s White House has removed CNN from another scheduled presidential press pool assignment, escalating its extraordinary battle with the network just days after a federal judge intervened in the administration’s broader effort to restrict CNN’s White House access.
CNN had been designated to provide television pool coverage for Trump’s Thursday trip to Texas and Oklahoma, according to a press rotation document released by the White House on Sunday.
Then the schedule changed.
When the White House issued its daily guidance for Trump’s trip — which includes a visit to a truck manufacturing facility in Denton, Texas, followed by remarks in Durant, Oklahoma — CNN was no longer listed as the television pool outlet.
CNN confirmed that it had been removed.
The latest move comes amid an increasingly bitter fight between Trump and several major news organizations over who gets access to the president.
Trump previously barred CNN, MS NOW and Politico reporters from the White House after repeatedly attacking their coverage as unfair and negative.
The three organizations sued.
Last week, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly temporarily ordered the administration to restore their White House credentials, finding that the outlets were likely to succeed on their claim that the administration had failed to provide constitutionally adequate due process before revoking their access.
But the legal victory did not end the fight.
The court’s temporary order specifically restored access to White House grounds. It did not directly determine who must be permitted aboard Air Force One or which network must be allowed to fulfill individual presidential travel-pool assignments.
And that distinction has quickly become the next battleground.
CNN was scheduled to travel with Trump aboard Air Force One last weekend when the president flew to Tennessee for a college football game.
The White House blocked the network from that assignment too.
CNN’s fellow television pool members declined to replace it, leaving the president without a primary network television pooler on the trip.
Now it has happened again.
CNN was back on the official rotation for Thursday — until the White House removed it.
The network’s attorney, Theodore Boutrous, has characterized the administration’s broader treatment of CNN, MS NOW and Politico as retaliation based on coverage Trump dislikes.
“That’s retaliation and viewpoint discrimination, pure and simple,” Boutrous said in a statement earlier this week.
CNN, MS NOW and Politico are now asking Judge Kelly to extend his protection of their White House access while their lawsuit proceeds.
Their lawyers warned the court that the administration’s actions suggest the broader ban could return as soon as the temporary order expires.
The White House disputes that characterization.
A spokesperson has argued that Trump provides extensive access to reporters through press events, interviews and frequent question-and-answer sessions, while accusing some journalists of approaching the president with predetermined negative narratives.
But Thursday’s decision adds another chapter to a confrontation that has already disrupted one of Washington’s longest-standing press traditions.
The television pool exists because every major network cannot practically travel everywhere with the president. CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox rotate responsibility for providing footage that can then be shared more broadly.
That means removing one network from its scheduled turn affects more than a single CNN reporter.
And this time, CNN had already been assigned the job.
It was on the schedule.
Then it wasn’t.
With the underlying First Amendment lawsuit still moving through federal court, Trump’s fight with CNN is clearly nowhere near finished.
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