President Trump is losing the lights and cameras as his Left-wing media ban took an unexpected turn Monday.
Fox News pulled out of the presidential news pool in response to the White House’s ban on CNN, Politico, and MS NOW, meaning the president’s trip to the United Nations General Assembly will go without a television crew providing video coverage.
The presidential television pool consists of five networks — CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox News. Each network takes turns serving as “pool chair,” meaning it provides video coverage of presidential events designated as pool events. The networks share the same video feed to conserve resources while maintaining television coverage to all five outlets.
On Monday morning, Fox News D.C. Bureau Chief Bryan Boughton pulled the plug on that coverage, saying in an email: “This is to advise that, effective today, the TV pool will not be covering events designated as pool coverage of the President.”
“This follows the White House’s position preventing CNN from fulfilling its assigned pool duties. There will be no replacement pool put in place,” Boughton said.
The White House has not responded to the development. The move marks a rare rebuke from Fox News and comes directly in response to Trump’s announcement Friday that he was banning CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House. Trump accused the three Left-wing news organizations of repeatedly publishing what he called “FAKE NEWS.”
“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 on his Truth Social platform.
Trump accused the outlets of reporting “FICTION and LIES” about his administration, citing the coverage as a rationale for restricting their access to the White House.
“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,” Trump wrote.
Earlier Monday, the three outlets announced an imminent lawsuit against the Trump administration after their reporters were barred from the White House grounds. The lawsuit will allege that the Trump administration is violating their First Amendment rights. Trump has defended the ban as necessary to protect national security and crack down on “fake news,” The Daily Wire reported.
“This morning, we notified the government that we are filing a lawsuit today to protect our First Amendment rights and defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes,” the news outlets said on Monday. “Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference.”
The lawsuit will be filed in federal court in Washington, D.C.
In a social media post, Trump fired back and doubled down on his decision to kick the outlets out of the White House.
“The White House is not instituting an assault on the Free Press, something which I cherish. It is instituting an assault on the FAKE NEWS, something that has grown like Cancer in our beloved United States of America. It is corrupt, purposeful, pervasive, fully coordinated, and totally out of control. It is a threat to our National Security, and must be stopped,” Trump said.
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