‘Anybody from CNN and Politico here? No? OK’: JD Vance takes a job at CNN and Politico as the outlets sue to restore White House access

Vice President JD Vance appeared Tuesday at a fraud task force event with Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. During the event, Vance brought up two news outlets that President Trump had recently barred from the White House.

According to The Hill, Vance said with a smile, “I have my notes here that I’m supposed to take questions from CNN and Politico. Anybody from CNN and Politico here? No? OK,”

Oz, standing behind him, laughed at the comment. Vance then turned and gave the CMS administrator a thumbs-up.

Joint lawsuit follows White House decision to bar three news outlets

MS NOW, Politico, and CNN filed a joint lawsuit against the administration on Monday. Attorneys for the outlets claimed the president’s action amounted to a “direct assault on the First Amendment” and a “blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles.”

Trump said in a Friday Truth Social post that he was barring CNN, POLITICO, and MS NOW from the White House “as a result of their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS.” He told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday afternoon that the decision was based on “cumulative stories” over the course of his second term. The president did not give a separate explanation for the timing of the ban.

Trump said he was “surprised” to see CNN’s chief White House correspondent, Kaitlan Collins, in the crowd of reporters when he arrived at the UN General Assembly in New York City on Tuesday morning. He told her, “You should not be here covering me. You said you weren’t going to be covering me.”

Collins later said on air that she was credentialed for the event under the UN. She also said the network “never said we were not going to cover the president.”

In a Monday evening Truth Social post, Trump wrote, “The White House is not instituting an assault on the Free Press, something which I cherish.” He added, “It is instituting an assault on the FAKE NEWS, something that has grown like Cancer in our beloved United States of America.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the ban on NBC News’s “TODAY” show on Tuesday morning. He told host Craig Melvin, “I don’t think the White House is saying they’re not able to cover the President.”

Rubio added, “What he is arguing is, why should I have these people? What right do they have to be embedded in this building?” He also said, “They can cover the White House; they just can’t have a desk there.”

The White House announced a 24/7 streaming service called Trump TV on Monday evening. The White House’s official social media account said the page would feature “top past moments, announcements, and the latest and greatest from the administration all in one place.” The post also said, “Not every big moment has made it on your tv, now it can.”