The White House dropped CNN from traveling with President Donald Trump on Air Force One for Saturday’s Tennessee college football game — leaving the rotating pool without any television coverage.
The move removes CNN from its scheduled spot on the White House press pool rotation for the trip to Knoxville, where Trump is attending what the Tennessean calls the University of Tennessee Volunteers’ biggest game of the year — Texas vs Tennessee at Neyland Stadium.
No outlet was listed to replace CNN. That means there will be no TV pool coverage of the president’s trip.
“Such interventions in the television rotation have historically been rare,” Politico reported Saturday. “Typically, the five networks decide who is up for rotation.”
The five networks are CNN, CBS News, ABC News, NBC News, and Fox News. Under normal protocol, they rotate coverage duties — but the White House removed CNN from that schedule.
“The White House is barring CNN from flying on Air Force One on Saturday as part of the news outlet’s duties covering the president on behalf of major television networks.”
This is the second time in a week CNN has been blocked from Air Force One. The network was excluded from Monday’s helipad ribbon-cutting ceremony and Tuesday’s trip to New York for Trump’s United Nations General Assembly address.
Those removals came after Trump declared on Truth Social on September 18 that CNN, MS NOW, and Politico were banned from White House access “as a result of their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS.”
“Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow,” Trump added in the post.
The three outlets sued, calling the ban “a blatant First Amendment violation.” U.S. District Judge Tim Kelly ordered the White House to immediately restore their access early Thursday morning.
According to CNN, regular coverage resumed Friday when the network served as part of the pool covering Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to the National Archives.
But the White House pulled CNN from Saturday’s Air Force One rotation anyway.
Trump publicly called out CNN’s Kaitlan Collins when he arrived in New York for the UN General Assembly on September 22, spotting her in the press group and saying the network “shouldn’t be covering” him.
“I’m surprised that CNN is here covering me. You shouldn’t be here. You should not be here covering me. You said you weren’t going to cover me — you shouldn’t be covering me.”
Vice President JD Vance defended the president’s decision to exclude outlets that report what he calls Fake News from special White House access on Monday:
“They can still report on the Trump White House. They can still get the public reports. They can still, of course, talk to people in the administration and outside the administration. What the president has said is, we’re not going to give you special access inside the White House,” Vance said.
Vance compared Politico’s anti-Trump coverage to Breitbart’s coverage of Obama and Biden, asking why Trump should be expected to give Politico special access when “nobody in the media expected the Biden administration or the Obama administration to give Breitbart special access.”
“It’s about basic fairness,” Vance said.
The White House press pool rotation typically includes one to two television networks with videographers and producers, a handful of print journalists, a radio reporter, a New Media reporter, and photographers.
Former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt added a New Media seat to briefings in January 2025, often calling on outlets like Breitbart News and well-known podcast creators for the first question of the session.
🔥 LMAO! President Trump arrived at the United Nations and IMMEDIATELY started clowning on CNN and Kaitlan Collins
"I'm surprised that CNN is here covering me! You shouldn't be here. You should not be here covering me! You said you weren't going to cover me! You shouldn't be… pic.twitter.com/aZCtzJHyuD
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) September 22, 2026
