White House drops CNN from pool for Trump trip

The White House removed CNN from the press pool assigned to cover President Donald Trump’s Thursday trip to Texas and Oklahoma, changing a rotation announced several days earlier.

A press rotation document released Sunday had designated CNN to travel with Trump. The network was absent from the later daily guidance for the president’s planned visit to a truck manufacturing facility in Denton, Texas, and subsequent remarks in Durant, Oklahoma.

CNN spokesperson Emily Kuhn confirmed that the network had been taken out of the planned pool coverage. The White House did not immediately comment on the change.

How the press pool works

The White House press pool is a rotating group of news organizations that covers the president on behalf of the broader press corps. Designated pool reporters share reporting and video from events where space or access is limited, including travel aboard Air Force One.

Removing CNN means the network will not fill its previously scheduled role documenting Thursday’s trip and distributing that material to other news organizations.

The dispute over access

The change followed another instance over the weekend when the White House prevented CNN from flying on Air Force One for Trump’s trip to Tennessee, despite the network having been assigned pool duty.

It also came less than a week after a federal judge paused the administration’s effort to exclude CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House. That court order applies to access on White House grounds and does not cover presidential travel.

The three organizations asked the judge Monday to extend the pause. Theodore Boutrous, an attorney representing them, has argued that the restrictions violate the First Amendment and due-process protections.