The White House has blocked CNN from flying with Donald Trump aboard Air Force One to Tennessee on Saturday for a college football game. CNN said it had been scheduled to travel, and the exclusion impedes its TV press-pool duties.
The move comes a week after Trump revoked White House access for CNN, MS Now and Politico over reports he described as unfavorable. A federal judge later ordered the administration to restore access in a lawsuit in which the outlets argued the ban violated the First Amendment. Their journalists were let in only around midday Thursday; CNN's editorial team and an MS Now reporter were later blocked from covering a state dinner marking Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit.
The White House television pool said administrations should not restrict news organizations over their reporting; pool journalists had suspended video coverage of Trump in protest. Justice Department lawyers argued the earlier access ban served national security, citing media reports involving sensitive or classified information. The White House did not immediately respond to the Guardian's request for comment on CNN's exclusion from Saturday's trip.
