After meeting New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, President Donald Trump pushed back on talk that news outlets would stay away from him. Trump said, “It’s interesting because, they said they were going to boycott me, but they never boycott me, so I wasn’t very worried about that. Look at all that press.”
According to the BBC, Mamdani told Trump that every member of the media would be welcome at the press conference. Trump then appeared on television after that meeting.
On Monday, major U.S. television networks stopped taking part in pooled coverage of the president. They did so after CNN, Politico, and MS NOW were barred from the White House.
Banned news organizations take the White House to court over revoked credentials
Trump announced the ban on Friday and accused those organizations of writing “fiction or lies” about his administration. The companies said their reporters were turned away from the building on Saturday.
The three outlets said they will sue the Trump administration. They said the case is meant to “defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports.” The administration’s legal fight with the press follows a broader pattern of tension, as a report said Trump told aides he didn’t have enough allies defending him on TV.
The White House soon launched its own streaming channel, Trump TV. The channel runs a 24/7 feed of clips of the president.
Other U.S. outlets also said they would sit out pooled event coverage. The New York Times and The Washington Post said they would not share still photos from Trump events on Monday.
No network television cameras captured Trump boarding Air Force One or landing in New York for the U.N. General Assembly. Trump later cut the ribbon on a new Marine One helipad on the White House South Lawn. The White House streamed the ceremony, but his remarks could not be heard.
News organizations use the pool to share video and photos so they can cover presidential events without every outlet sending its own crew. Fox News Washington bureau chief Bryan Boughton, who now holds a rotating role coordinating White House TV crews, wrote in an email seen by the BBC that “effective today, the TV pool will not be covering designated as pool coverage” of Trump.
Boughton’s message said the decision followed the White House “preventing” CNN from carrying out its pool duties on Trump’s trip to New York. The email also said, “there will be no replacement pool put in place.”
The three barred organizations filed a lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court in Washington. Their joint statement said: “Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists’ credentials because it objected to our reporting.”
The same statement added: “Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference.”
Published: Sep 22, 2026 10:00 am