CNN has been excluded from the television pool that will accompany President Donald Trump on his travel to Texas and Oklahoma, according to a source who spoke to The Hill on Thursday — the second time in a week that the network has been sidelined from covering the president’s movements.
The White House did not respond to The Hill’s request for comment, and CNN was not listed among the outlets assigned to the TV pool for the trip. CNN spokesperson Emily Kuhn confirmed the removal to NBC News but declined to elaborate further.
A Pattern of Removals
The latest exclusion follows a similar move last weekend, when CNN was dropped from the press contingent traveling with Trump aboard Air Force One to the Tennessee-Texas college football game. After that removal, the network issued a statement calling the decision “a blatant violation of the First Amendment and due process.”
CNN, MS NOW, and Politico have asked a federal court to restore their credentials, arguing in court papers that the administration has “persisted in unpredictably and inconsistently implementing its ban” even after a judge issued a restraining order. That order, according to the outlets, should have prevented CNN from being blocked from pool duties.
Attorneys for CNN renewed their request to have the network reinstated to pool coverage on Tuesday. In the filing, they contended that the White House is granting access to the president and coverage of his daily activities “unpredictably and inconsistently,” resulting in irreparable harm to the outlet, as The Hill reported.
The Trump administration faces a Friday, October 2 deadline to respond to this week’s filing.
The Mechanics of Pool Coverage
White House pool coverage is a longstanding arrangement in which a small group of journalists represents the broader press corps, sharing their reporting with outlets that cannot attend every event due to space and logistical limits. Being removed from the pool effectively cuts a network off from independently observing and reporting on the president’s movements, remarks, and interactions — especially during travel, when access is tightly controlled.
The dispute has been ongoing, with the three news organizations arguing that the administration’s decisions about who may travel with the president have been applied unevenly. The restraining order at the center of the case was meant to freeze the status quo while the litigation proceeds, but the outlets say the White House has continued to change its practices in ways that keep them out.
For its part, the White House has not publicly detailed its criteria for pool assignments. The administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill, and officials have not offered an on-the-record explanation for why CNN was left off the Texas and Oklahoma trip.
What Happens Next
The administration’s response, due Friday, will give the court its first formal account of the government’s position since CNN renewed its request. If the judge finds that the restraining order has been violated, the administration could face additional judicial pressure to restore the credentials in question.
CNN senior reporter Betsy Klein was photographed working in the network’s White House office on September 24, 2026, shortly after being allowed back onto the grounds — a reminder that access has shifted repeatedly for the network in recent weeks.
Until the court rules or the administration changes course, CNN’s ability to serve as the television pool for presidential travel remains in question, and the network’s attorneys say the uncertainty itself is part of the harm their client is suffering.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2026/10/01/cnn-again-dropped-from-white-house-pool-coverage/