The Judge Opens the Door, Trump Takes CNN’s Seat on Air Force One - Far-Right Outlets Broadcast State Visit

Barely had U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly allowed the three barred news organizations back onto White House grounds when the next move to control access to the president followed. For Donald Trump’s trip to Knoxville on Saturday, CNN was removed from the Air Force One seat reserved for the television pool. The White House put Real America’s Voice News there instead, an extremely right-wing television network that is not even part of that pool. Trump is set to attend the college football game between the University of Tennessee and the University of Texas in Tennessee. A seat on the presidential aircraft has now become a political battleground in its own right.

America has reached yet another absolute low: A state visit is now being broadcast live across the country by the far-right outlets Real America’s Voice and Steve Bannon’s WarRoom, while established news organizations have to fight for access to the president.

Kelly had temporarily lifted the ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico in an overnight ruling. His order concerns the permanent passes granting access to White House grounds. It does not explicitly address television pool duties, and it does not mention Air Force One either. That is exactly where the conflict now sits. Theodore Boutrous Jr., attorney for the three news organizations, said the plaintiffs believed the ruling also covered access to the pool. He did not immediately respond to questions about the new flight arrangement. The White House also offered no immediate further explanation.

Just hours earlier on Friday, things looked different. The U.S. television pool was operating again for the first time since the ban. CNN carried footage of Trump’s visit to the National Archives with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Melania Trump and Peng Liyuan were there as well. Brian Stelter wrote that CNN had a regular pool assignment for the National Archives event and that the White House had approved the network’s credentials. A person familiar with the arrangements said that, for the time being, all systems were running again. A few hours later, CNN was no longer on the list for the next presidential flight. The television pool consists of five major U.S. outlets. They take turns shooting footage and then distribute the material to the rest of the press corps. When the White House barred CNN from the grounds, the other 4 providers refused to participate in solidarity. That temporarily brought the shared television coverage to a complete halt. The seat designated for CNN on this flight had long been reserved for a member of that pool. Real America’s Voice News is not part of it. What might look like a seating arrangement therefore becomes a question of power: Whoever gets to decide which journalistic eyes follow the president at close range gains influence over access to reality itself.

The dispute has a longer history. During his 2nd term, Trump repeatedly took administrative or legal action against news organizations whose coverage angered him. Last year, reporters from a news agency were barred from White House events because the organization did not fully adopt Trump’s ordered name “Gulf of America” for the Gulf of Mexico. A federal court ruled in the agency’s favor. The case is now on appeal. The current dispute touches the 1st Amendment. The three news organizations say the exclusion violates their rights. The administration argues that access to the White House is a privilege, not a right. Kelly’s temporary order restores the journalists’ access passes, but it does not yet finally decide how far that protection extends to travel and pool duties. An open front door still does not answer the question of who gets a seat on the plane afterward.

The pool itself was created decades ago by the White House Correspondents’ Association. A rotating group of journalists accompanies the president in places where the entire press corps cannot fit, then distributes reports and images to the other news organizations. The arrangement is meant to ensure that the public still has observers with the president even when space is limited. Now a regular member is losing its assigned seat while an outside conservative outlet gets it instead. The next chapter of this constitutional fight is therefore written on an Air Force One passenger list.