Attorney General Todd Blanche got into a heated exchange with ABC’s “This Week” host Martha Raddatz on Sunday, pushing back hard after she appeared to attribute a claim to him regarding President Trump’s decision to bar CNN, MSNOW and Politico from the White House press pool.
According to The Gateway Pundit, the confrontation stemmed from Raddatz trying to characterize Blanche’s position on how the administration would handle press access in the wake of the ban.
The Exchange
Raddatz pressed Blanche on whether the administration intended to vet journalists before allowing them to travel with the president or enter the White House.
“You’re saying you’re gonna screen people before they get on a flight? Come into the White House?” Raddatz asked.
Blanche cut in immediately: “I did not say that. You don’t get to put words in my mouth!”
When Raddatz attempted to continue, saying “But you said…”, Blanche again objected: “You don’t get to put words in my mouth. That’s not how it works! You just said, ‘are you saying.’ I didn’t say that.”
Background on the Ban
The clash followed a turbulent week for the administration’s relationship with the press corps. Trump announced last Friday that he had banned CNN, MSNOW and Politico from the White House, citing what he called “FAKE NEWS” reporting.
The three outlets responded quickly, filing a lawsuit on Monday and seeking an emergency order to overturn the ban.
A federal judge then issued a temporary order directing the Trump administration to restore the affected outlets’ access to the White House. Despite that order, CNN was reportedly blocked from boarding Air Force One on Saturday as the president traveled to Tennessee.
According to The Gateway Pundit, the outlet itself, along with Red State Media and Real America’s Voice, traveled with the president and covered his attendance at the University of Tennessee versus University of Texas football game.
The dispute has raised broader questions about the administration’s approach to press credentials and access, particularly against the backdrop of a court order that appeared to favor the banned outlets. It also put the attorney general in the unfamiliar position of defending the administration’s press policies on national television, where the interview quickly turned into a testy back-and-forth over what Blanche had and had not said.
What Comes Next
The temporary order from the federal judge remains in place, but the underlying lawsuit from CNN, MSNOW and Politico is still moving through the courts. How the administration reconciles its stated policy with that order—and whether further outlets are added to or removed from the ban—remains an open question, one that Raddatz’s line of questioning on Sunday attempted to surface before the interview deteriorated into a dispute over framing rather than substance.
Blanche’s appearance marked one of the more combative televised moments for a senior Justice Department official in recent memory, and it underscored how quickly the press-access fight has moved from the White House briefing room to the federal bench and now to the Sunday show circuit.
Source: www.thegatewaypundit.com — https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/09/todd-blanche-erupts-martha-raddatz-trumps-media-ban/