Hours after the Trump administration allowed CNN to resume its TV pool coverage duties on Friday, the network said the White House blocked its journalists from flying with President Donald Trump on Air Force One on Saturday as he travels to Tennessee.
The network fulfilled its duties as the designated pooler earlier Friday for Trump’s visit to the National Archives in Washington with Chinese President Xi Jinping, capping a whirlwind week of restrictions being imposed and lifted after the White House banned the network, MS NOW and Politico.
But the White House later removed CNN as the primary TV pooler for Saturday, barring it from Air Force One, the network reported Friday night. The Washington Post first reported CNN’s exclusion from the trip.
The White House did not list a primary TV pool for Saturday in the daily guidance it sent out Friday night. Trump is set to travel to Knoxville, Tennessee, to attend a University of Tennessee vs. University of Texas football game.
A CNN spokesperson declined to comment. The White House did not immediately respond to MS NOW’s request for comment.
CNN and the other four networks that decide the daily rotation of White House pool coverage — ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC — had suspended their TV coverage of Trump after his administration removed CNN from its assigned duties on Monday. CNN had been blocked from flying on Air Force One as Trump flew to New York City for the United Nations General Assembly. But the pool appeared to be reactivated as of Friday morning, with CBS serving as the primary TV pooler for the day and CNN covering Trump and Xi’s visit to the National Archives.
