President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he is barring CNN, MS Now and Politico from the White House, accusing the outlets of persistent fake news coverage.
Writing on social media, Trump declared the bans effective immediately. He criticized MS Now, noting the network recently rebranded from MSNBC due to what he called declining viewership and credibility. He also targeted Politico, alleging the publication received an illegal and record-breaking $8 million in government subscription payments under former President Joe Biden to stay afloat.
“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. He added that other media organizations would likely face similar restrictions.
The reference to Politico’s subscription funding stems from data on USAspending.gov, a federal spending tracker. According to CBS News, U.S. government agencies collectively spent more than $8 million on Politico subscriptions and products in 2024.
The White House did not specify what triggered the decision, and Variety has reached out to the three networks for comment.
This move follows a previous incident last year, when the White House blocked Associated Press staffers from the Oval Office and Air Force One. The AP had continued referring to the body of water off the southeastern coast of North America as the Gulf of Mexico, despite Trump’s 2025 executive order renaming it the Gulf of America. An appeals court later ruled that the ban did not violate the First Amendment.
I find it hard to believe eight million dollars was spent on subscriptions alone. That sounds like a massive markup or something else entirely.
Wait, did MSNBC officially rebrand to MS Now? I’ve been refreshing my cable guide and honestly haven’t noticed any change yet.
This feels like a direct attack on press freedom. Banning journalists just for reporting facts sets a dangerous precedent for democracy.