📅 Date: September 25, 2026
📰 Source: CNN / Associated Press / Reuters
📌 Topic: White House, CNN, Air Force One and presidential press access
The White House blocked CNN from traveling aboard Air Force One with President Donald Trump for his September 26 trip to Knoxville, Tennessee, in the latest development in an escalating dispute between the Trump administration and several major news organizations. CNN had been scheduled to participate in the presidential television pool for the trip.
According to White House guidance, CNN’s place was given to Real America’s Voice, a conservative media outlet that is not normally one of the five organizations that make up the White House television pool. Trump was scheduled to travel to Tennessee to attend the University of Tennessee–Texas college football game.
The decision came only hours after CNN, MS NOW and Politico reporters returned to the White House grounds following a federal judge’s temporary order restoring their access. US District Judge Timothy Kelly had ruled that the administration could not keep the three organizations from the White House grounds while their lawsuit over media access proceeds. However, the order did not specifically address Air Force One travel or television-pool assignments.
The White House television pool normally consists of ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox News and CNN, which rotate responsibility for recording and distributing video of the president to the broader news media. When CNN was barred from the White House grounds earlier in September, the other four networks declined to provide replacement coverage, temporarily disrupting the pool.
The pool briefly resumed operations Friday after the court ruling. CNN was able to provide video from Trump’s appearance with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the National Archives. But the administration’s decision to exclude CNN from the next Air Force One trip immediately raised new questions about whether the presidential television pool would continue operating normally.
The broader dispute began after Trump barred CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House grounds and criticized their coverage. The three organizations subsequently filed a federal lawsuit arguing that the restrictions violate constitutional protections for the press. The White House has maintained that the outlets can continue reporting from outside the White House complex.
The Air Force One dispute therefore represents another development in the ongoing legal and political fight over presidential press access. The court case remains unresolved, while the administration’s restrictions and the news organizations’ responses continue to affect how journalists cover the president.
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