WASHINGTON — President Trump has launched a counteroffensive against major television networks over their decision to stop distributing footage of White House events: Trump TV.
Promoted as “essential” television, the presidential network went live Monday evening.
“TRUMP TV IS STREAMING NOW. 24/7, updated in real time, with top past moments, announcements, and the latest and greatest from the administration all in one place. Not every big moment has made it on your tv, now it can,” the administration wrote.
The service opened with Trump’s July 3 speech at Mount Rushmore.
The launch capped a day of intensifying conflict between Trump and the news media, with no clear end to the confrontation in sight.
CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox News, the five television networks that pool and distribute footage of presidential events to news organizations worldwide, made the first move by announcing that the service had been suspended until further notice. They cited the White House decision to bar CNN, MSNow and Politico.
The networks notably declined to air Trump’s ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday afternoon, where he formally opened the new presidential helipad before leaving for a two-day trip to New York.
“The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting,” ABC News, CBS News, CNN, Fox News Media and NBC News said in a joint statement as members of the White House television pool.
The White House carried the ceremony on its own social media platforms, but the noise from Marine One, which was parked behind Trump on the helipad with its engine running, drowned out his remarks.
Some networks later broadcast portions of Trump’s news conference with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
“It’s interesting because they said where they were going to boycott me, but they never boycott me, so I wasn’t very worried about that,” Trump said of the coverage. Pointing toward the large group of reporters outside Gracie Mansion, he added, “Look at all that press.”
The dispute spread beyond television. Several newspapers, including The New York Times and The Washington Post, said they would withhold photographs of Trump taken by staff photographers until after midnight in a show of support for the networks.
The Trump administration dismissed the criticism.
“Access changes are nothing new. What is new, however, is the sudden claim that it becomes sacred only when the outlets are friendly to the Radical Left,” the White House said in a statement. “The rule was never ‘every outlet gets in.’ It was always ‘our side stays in.’”
CNN, MS Now and Politico sued the Trump administration Monday, seeking to restore their access to the White House after reporters from all three organizations were turned away over the weekend.
The ban is Trump’s most aggressive action against the press during his second term. Last year, the Associated Press was removed from pooled access after refusing to adopt his preferred name, “Gulf of America,” for the Gulf of Mexico.
In a 27-page complaint, the three outlets named Trump, White House communications director Steven Cheung, Secret Service Director Sean Curran and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles as defendants. The filing said Trump’s announcement Friday that the organizations were barred from the executive mansion “could not be a more direct assault on the First Amendment nor a more blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles.”
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly is scheduled to hear the case Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. During Trump’s first term, Kelly ruled that the White House could not bar Jim Acosta, who was then CNN’s White House correspondent.
Trump criticized Kelly’s selection in a post on Truth Social and said his administration would appeal if the judge ruled against it.
“They have drawn a great Judge, for them, a man who ruled in favor of Jim Acosta, who now seems to have disappeared from the Planet,” Trump wrote. “In other words, almost without question and, as usual, we’ll go for appeal.”
The TV network boycott was sparked when the White House declined to credential CNN on Monday, when it was the network’s turn to staff the TV pool, meaning it would have provided video of Trump’s trip to New York for meetings with Mamdani and French President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
Trump’s travel is still being covered by print, radio and wire journalists, along with still photographers and the White House’s in-house camera team.
The president argued “fake news” should not be allowed into the White House.
“They’re very bad for the country, very bad for national security … So we’ll see how it works out,” he said.
