Self-Proclaimed Free Speech Defender Bans CNN, MSNOW, Politico From White House

Trump says that "Other Fake News Media Outlets" are to follow

Donald Trump, who has repeatedly vowed to protect free speech as president, is escalating his effort to silence media outlets who don’t lick his boots, this time by attempting to ban CNN, MSNOW, and Politico from the White House press pool. 

“I am proud to announce that, effective immediately, I am banning Fake News CNN, MSNOW … and Politico … from the White House as a result of their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS,” Trump wrote Friday on Truth Social. 

“Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America. Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow,” he added. 

It’s not the first time that Trump has attempted to restrict legitimate coverage of the administration. Early in his second term, Trump attempted to ban the Associated Press from the White House after the outlet refused to capitulate to the administration’s efforts to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.” 

The Associated Press successfully sued the administration to have the attempted ban. It’s likely that the three outlets targeted by the president on Friday will pursue similar relief. 

Trump has regularly fashioned himself as a defender of free speech. “I’m a very strong person for free speech,” he said last year, before claiming that negative coverage is “illegal.”

Trump has just as regularly attempted to leverage the influence of his administration to silence his most prominent critics. He has made a habit of suing news outlets. He has attempted to weaponize the Federal Communications Commission against late-night hosts, including pressuring ABC News to remove late night host Jimmy Kimmel from the air — a decision they were later forced to reverse after public backlash. He has also threatened CBS and ABC penalties if they aired sit-down interviews with Texas candidate James Talarico.

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CNN, MSNOW, and Politico are the latest outlets to be hit, with “others to follow,” as the president who says he’s a champion of free speech continues to crack down on coverage.