President Trump’s Sweeping Press Ban Impacts CWA Journalist

On Friday, in another unprecedented move from President Trump, journalists from news outlets CNN, MS NOW, and Politico were barred from the White House. Trump explained his rationale, simply calling the outlets “fake news.”

On Saturday, the Politico and E&E News (PEN) Guild, alongside their local, the Washington-Baltimore News Guild (TNG-CWA Local 32035), released a statement, saying, “This morning, Secret Service barred our own PEN Guild member Cheyenne Haslett from the White House simply for doing her job.

“Press access cannot be weaponized against journalists for their reporting. An attack on one outlet’s ability to cover the White House is an attack on a free press for all of us. We stand with our members and every journalist targeted for doing their job.”

On Monday morning, CNN, MS NOW, and Politico sued the Trump administration for the blatant violation of the First Amendment. This morning, a federal judge ordered the restoration of the journalists' access, but the situation continues to develop.

In a show of solidarity, five major news networks, including Fox, ABC, CBS, CNN, and NBC, have agreed to suspend pooled coverage of Trump in defense of the constitutionally protected freedoms of the press, designed to protect those who investigate and hold to account people in positions of political power.

Donald Trump has a long history as president of attacking the press, ranging from vaguely disparaging statements to direct insults aimed at individual journalists. Trump made waves in 2025, for example, when he told Bloomberg News reporter Catherine Lucey, "Quiet, piggy," in response to a question about the Epstein files.

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This post originally appeared on cwa-union.org.