White House leaves CNN off Air Force One for Trump's Tennessee trip, seats Real America's Voice
The White House removed CNN from the Saturday Air Force One press pool for President Trump's Knoxville college-football trip and listed Real America's Voice instead. A federal TRO had restored CNN's White House hard pass days earlier but did not explicitly cover pool duties or Air Force One.
AI-assisted · US Brief desk · Sources listed below
What happened
The White House left CNN off Air Force One for President Donald Trump's Saturday trip to a University of Tennessee–University of Texas college football game in Knoxville, replacing the network's scheduled television-pool seat with Real America's Voice, a conservative outlet that is not a member of the U.S. network video pool, the Associated Press and NBC News reported.
How the swap happened: CNN said it had been scheduled to fly with Trump as part of rotating pool duties that share video of the president with the broader press corps. White House media guidance issued Friday night instead listed Real America's Voice and did not list another major-network pool member as a substitute, AP and NBC reported. A written pool report Saturday morning confirmed there was "no TV pool" for the travel, though Real America's Voice correspondent Taylor Mitchell said in a social-media video, "CNN is not here; we have taken over that responsibility. We are so excited to be here." The White House did not respond to AP's emails seeking comment; CNN declined to comment.
Trump's Saturday message: On Saturday morning the president wrote on Truth Social, "FAKE NEWS SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED IN THE WHITE HOUSE!!! IT HAS GONE ON FAR TOO LONG, AT A TREMENDOUS COST TO OUR COUNTRY," AP and BBC reported. A White House communications account separately posted on X that, "contrary to what the Fake News wants you to believe, they don't just get to have free rein into every part of the White House, every event and every press call," the BBC said.
Why it matters
The White House Correspondents' Association-designed press pool exists so a rotating roster travels with the president and distributes reports and imagery to the wider press corps. Seating a non-pool outlet on Air Force One while a TRO has restored hard-pass access tests how far court relief reaches beyond the White House fence — and whether the administration can reshape who documents the president's travel. The fight sits alongside earlier second-term access battles, including the AP's ongoing litigation after it was restricted over Gulf of Mexico naming guidance.
What’s next
Watch whether Boutrous and the plaintiff outlets seek clarifying court relief on pool and Air Force One access before Kelly's 14-day TRO expires, whether the major-network pool resumes or again stands down, and how the White House staffs the next presidential travel pool.
More context
What the court order covered — and what it did not: U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly granted a 14-day temporary restraining order early Thursday requiring the administration to restore White House hard passes for CNN, MS NOW, and Politico after Trump banned the three outlets from the grounds last week. AP, NBC, and BBC all note that the order addressed access to White House grounds and did not expressly require restoration of television-pool duties or seats on Air Force One. Theodore Boutrous Jr., an attorney for the three outlets, said Friday on CNN's The Lead with Jake Tapper that the plaintiffs believe the ruling also covers pool access; he did not respond to AP over the weekend.
Pool solidarity and a brief restart: When CNN was barred from the grounds, the other four U.S. network video-pool members — Fox News, ABC, CBS, and NBC — declined to participate in a show of solidarity, AP and NBC reported. Pool coverage briefly resumed Friday for Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping's National Archives visit, with CNN airing live video for the first time in several days, before Saturday's Air Force One exclusion. Fans at Neyland Stadium later saw a low-altitude Air Force One flyover; Trump's motorcade arrived during the national anthem, according to a text pool report cited by AP.
3 listed sources
- Associated Press (Sarah Rankin, Hallie Golden) via The Philadelphia Inquirer, Sep 26, 2026: CNN left off Air Force One; Real America's Voice substituted; pool report "no TV pool"; Trump Truth Social post
- NBC News (Casey Wooten), Sep 26, 2026, 9:47 a.m. EDT: White House blocks CNN from covering Trump's Tennessee trip; TRO vs. pool distinction
- BBC News (Claire Keenan), Sep 26, 2026: White House bars CNN from travelling with Trump on Air Force One
References listed by US Brief; a source count is not a verification score.
Editorial sourcing notes
Facts follow the Associated Press (Sarah Rankin and Hallie Golden, via The Philadelphia Inquirer), NBC News (Casey Wooten), and BBC News (Claire Keenan), all Sep 26, 2026. The White House did not respond to AP's request for comment; CNN declined to comment. Real America's Voice's on-air claim that it had "taken over" the TV-pool role is the outlet's own characterization — AP noted the written pool report said there was "no TV pool" for the travel. Judge Kelly's TRO restored hard passes to White House grounds and did not expressly order restoration of television-pool or Air Force One seats.
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