White House Drops CNN from Air Force One Pool After Court Ruling

The White House schedule released Friday evening omitted CNN from the rotating television pool assigned to cover President Trump’s Saturday trip to Tennessee. That exclusion left major networks without a shared feed for the event and renewed questions over how administrations control physical access to the president. A federal judge had ordered the restoration of White House credentials for CNN, MS NOW and Politico only days earlier after the outlets were initially barred from the complex. The court found the initial ban likely violated constitutional protections. The pool system exists because space on Air Force One and at certain events is limited; one network typically supplies video and audio that others may use. The Friday schedule listed Lindell TV, an outlet owned by Trump ally Mike Lindell, as the secondary television provider instead. Earlier in the week the five largest U.S. broadcasters had suspended pool coverage in solidarity after the original credential revocations. Their joint statement said the public has a vital interest in independent information and that no administration should restrict an outlet over objections to its reporting. Trump’s Truth Social post the previous week had cited “constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS” as the reason for the initial ban on the three outlets. The networks resumed normal pool operations on Friday after the White House indicated CNN could supply cameras for a midday event involving Chinese President Xi Jinping. By Saturday the travel-pool exclusion was in place again. No administration response to requests for comment on the new schedule appeared in the record. CNN also declined to comment.