Donald Trump again clashed with reporters during his visit to Tennessee, where questions focused on who should have access to the president. MS Now correspondent Akayla Gardner asked whether the pool should include only outlets favorable to the administration. Trump rejected that framing, criticized the network’s coverage and told her to be quiet. The Guardian reports that the exchange was not carried live because CNN had already been removed from the television pool; the White House later posted a clip on social media.
The dispute followed a series of access restrictions. Last week, the administration revoked press credentials for journalists from MS Now, Politico and CNN after Trump announced that their access would end. A federal judge temporarily restored the journalists’ ability to work at the White House on Thursday. That evening, however, aides barred CNN and MS Now from covering a state dinner for Chinese president Xi Jinping.
Real America’s Voice, a pro-Trump network, traveled to Knoxville in CNN’s place. According to The Guardian, it lacks the technical capacity to distribute live pool video to other broadcasters and posted only a few clips. Trump returned to Washington on Saturday without taking questions from print reporters.
CNN analyst Brian Stelter warned that similar restrictions could affect another outlet. The way a travel pool is selected affects whether other news organizations can receive a common video feed from presidential events. The administration and Trump have linked their decisions to critical coverage, while journalists’ groups and the court have addressed press access as a separate issue.