Trump vs. the news media

The Guardian Donald Trump’s attorney general, Todd Blanche, argued that the administration was permitted to ban three news outlets from the White House because “it is a privilege and not a right to be there”. On Thursday, a judge issued a temporary restraining order requiring the White House to temporarily restore the credentials of affected journalists at CNN, MS Now and Politico, and they were allowed entry to the executive complex. However, on Saturday CNN said its journalists were barred from joining the press pool traveling with the president on Air Force One.

Pressed to point to a specific report the administration objected to, Blanche seemed to suggest that any negative reporting about Trump must be inaccurate, saying: “The information coming out of CNN and some of these other networks is wholly and completely, almost 100% negative toward the president.” Without providing any evidence, Blanche repeated the administration’s position that the affected three outlets’ reporting amounted to a “national security problem”.