President Donald Trump lashed out at a reporter who challenged him over the media restrictions he imposed on several major news organizations.
Before boarding Air Force One on Saturday morning for a trip to Tennessee to attend a college football game, Trump spoke with journalists about barring reporters from CNN, MS NOW and Politico from covering the White House.
The move drew immediate criticism after the outlets’ press credentials were deactivated. All three organizations subsequently sued the Trump administration, prompting a federal judge to suspend the ban.
MS NOW White House correspondent Akayla Gardner caught the president’s attention when she asked: ‘Do you only want outlets that support you to be a part of the press pool?’
‘No, no, I want real news. Not fake news, like you,’ Trump replied.
CNN had been scheduled to cover Trump’s trip to Knoxville, but the network was replaced by LindellTV, a station owned by Trump ally Mike Lindell.
‘I love an open, free press. What I don’t like is the fake press, with a group like CNN, with a few people watching, or MSDNC, which they changed I guess to NOW,’ he said, taking a swipe at Gardner’s network, formerly known as MSNBC.
‘You know why they changed it? Because their ratings are so bad. What I don’t like – wait, wait, quiet,’ Trump continued as Gardner challenged him.
Trump lashed out at a female reporter on Saturday morning as he prepared to board Air Force One for a college football game in Tennessee
He appeared to point directly at MS NOW White House correspondent Akayla Gardner, who asked the president: ‘Do you only want outlets that support you to be a part of the press pool?’
‘Do you not want tough questions, sir?’
‘What I don’t like is fake news, and they are 100 percent fake news. 100 percent. In two years,’ Trump responded as Gardner repeated her earlier question.
‘In two years I doubt they did one good story and I won the election in a landslide,’ the president added, appearing to point toward Gardner. ‘So what we don’t want, is we don’t want is fake news!’
Gardner, one of the reporters turned away by the administration the previous week, later posted a transcript of the exchange on X.
The confrontation came only hours after Trump used Truth Social to attack the news outlets he has repeatedly criticized.
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‘Why should perpetrators of FAKE NEWS, like CNN and MSDNC, be allowed access to a very sacred place, the White House? Despite my big Election Win, almost 100% of “TRUMP” coverage is negative, and has been for years!’ one post said.
He followed it with another message declaring: ‘FAKE NEWS SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED IN THE WHITE HOUSE!!! IT HAS GONE ON FAR TOO LONG, AT A TREMENDOUS COST TO OUR COUNTRY. President DJT.’
After banning ‘fake news’ outlets from covering him on September 18, CNN, MS NOW and Politico swiftly filed a lawsuit.
The heated exchange took place between Trump and MS NOW White House correspondent Akayla Gardner, who worked near the White House after being barred from entering the previous Saturday
‘This ban could not be a more direct assault on the First Amendment nor a more blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles,’ attorneys for the outlets wrote in a 27-page complaint filed Monday.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, lists Trump, chief of staff Susie Wiles, communications director Steven Cheung and Secret Service director Sean Curran as defendants.
The media organizations asked a judge to immediately block the ban and require the White House to return the reporters’ hard passes, which had been confiscated at the gates that same day.
On Thursday, US District Judge Timothy Kelly issued a temporary restraining order blocking the ban and ruled that the outlets’ access had to be restored.
The order will remain in effect for 14 days as the legal dispute continues.
Kelly signaled early in the hearing that he was skeptical of the president’s decision to revoke access for selected journalists, saying the White House had not provided them with ‘constitutionally adequate due process.’
Ted Boutrous, the attorney representing the news organizations, told CNN after the ruling: ‘This is a strong ruling vindicating freedom of the press, due process and the rule of law. We greatly appreciate the court’s swift action.’
The White House had anticipated a ruling favoring the media outlets. Trump acknowledged Tuesday that he would ‘probably’ allow the banned organizations to return if ordered to do so by the courts.
Trump also said on social media that he expected Kelly to rule in the outlets’ favor.
‘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,’ the president wrote, promising to appeal the decision.
President Trump appointed Kelly to the federal district court in Washington in 2017.
