Donald Trump’s decision to remove three major news organizations from the White House reportedly came hours after close aide Natalie Harp showed him television footage of anchors criticizing his administration.
Harp, among the president’s most trusted aides, played Trump clips from MS NOW on Friday as his simmering frustration with negative coverage reached a “fever pitch,” people familiar with the episode told the Wall Street Journal.
Within hours, Trump announced that CNN, MS NOW and Politico were barred from the White House “effective immediately”—a move that reportedly caught some officials in his own administration off guard.
By Saturday morning, reporters from all three organizations were being stopped at the gates. Journalists said their credentials had been disabled or taken away.
White House Enforces Media Ban Following Clip Review
MS NOW correspondent Akayla Gardner and a cameraman were turned away, while CNN and MS NOW were forced to broadcast from across the street outside the White House gates.
The reported role played by Harp offers new insight into the dramatic escalation of Trump’s years-long conflict with parts of the news media.
According to the Journal, Trump had spent months privately and publicly criticizing coverage of his second term. He also told aides that too few of his political allies were appearing on television to defend his record.
However, it was Friday’s series of critical MS NOW clips that appears to have pushed his frustration to a breaking point.
Trump soon posted on Truth Social that he was “banning Fake News CNN, MSNOW … and Politico” from the White House, accusing the outlets of repeatedly publishing “FICTION and LIES.”
Speaking in person, Trump said the ban was not prompted by one specific incident. Instead, he described it as the result of years of coverage he had grown “sick of.”
“Maybe they can get better, and we’d like to have them in,” Trump said. “Somebody has got to keep them away.”
Aides Scramble as Media Ban Details Emerge
The order reportedly surprised many White House officials, although aides moved quickly to enforce it, according to the Wall Street Journal.
A White House official said senior staff members were with Trump when he made the decision.
One senior administration official voiced frustration over the ban, telling the newspaper that ejecting reporters was unlikely to generate the more favorable coverage Trump was seeking.
Trump had considered imposing outright bans on news organizations before, but advisers had persuaded him to adopt narrower measures. Those steps included barring individual journalists from the Oval Office or restricting access to the smaller press pool.
CNN reporter Betsy Klein said her credential was confiscated. Gardner told viewers that a security guard informed her that her badge had been disabled.
“I asked why I was not able to get inside,” Gardner said. “He said it was above him.”
Outlets Condemn Revocation as Precedent Warning Issued
Politico said White House reporter Cheyenne Haslett was also refused entry.
CNN, MS NOW and Politico condemned the restrictions and pledged to continue reporting on the administration.
CNN described the move as an “illegal assault” on its constitutionally protected reporting rights. MS NOW said it would take the necessary steps to defend its First Amendment rights.
Trump has meanwhile suggested the crackdown might not stop with those three organizations.
Asked about other potential targets on Friday, he attacked the New York Times and Washington Post, calling them ‘fake news’ and ‘crummy papers.’
‘We’re probably not going to display the paper anymore in the White House,’ he said. ‘We haven’t taken the step of throwing them out.’
Trump also singled out Politico over federal government subscriptions purchased during the Biden administration.
Ari Fleischer, who served as White House press secretary under George W. Bush and has frequently defended Trump, warned that expelling entire organizations could establish a precedent that a future Democratic administration could turn against conservative media.
‘Banning them from the WH is not the solution,’ Fleischer wrote.
The fight erupted during what the Journal described as an unusually frustrating period for Trump.
Broader Political Setbacks Pressure Administration Ahead
At a recent closed-door Oval Office meeting, the president complained that prominent Washington figures had not publicly thanked him for his attempt to remake the Kennedy Center, according to a senior administration official cited by the Journal.
His effort to put his name on the institution has instead generated political opposition and courtroom battles.
Other setbacks have also piled up.
The Supreme Court blocked his administration from implementing new mail-ballot requirements ahead of the midterms, while Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh joined colleagues in voting to raise interest rates over the president’s objections.
The White House has also been confronting voter concerns about the economy and the war with Iran as the midterm elections approach.
The Journal reported that advisers have briefed Trump on political headwinds facing Republicans, including concerns that the Iran conflict is weighing on enthusiasm among parts of his conservative base.
Rising energy costs have added another domestic pressure point.
Trump has also been searching for victories he can showcase.
The president announced Friday that Washington had reached a security agreement with Denmark allowing an expanded American military presence in Greenland, and he is preparing for another foreign-policy-heavy week as he heads to New York for the United Nations General Assembly.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the White House press office for comment but has yet to hear back.
