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Browse major news stories and see what officials have said.

Sep 27, 2026· Updated

Trump Bans CNN, MS NOW and Politico From the White House "Effective Immediately," Saying They "Shouldn't Be Able to Constantly Write or Report FICTION and LIES" — the Next Morning the Secret Service Takes Their Reporters' Passes, and Chuck Schumer Says "Donald Trump Just Did What Dictators Throughout History Have Done"

On Friday, September 18, 2026, President Trump announced on Truth Social that he was banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House "effective immediately," writing that media outlets "shouldn't be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they're covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America," and warning that other outlets could follow. In the Oval Office the same day he said "there's something wrong with a country that can allow people to write purposely negative stuff." On the morning of Saturday, September 19, reporters from the three outlets — MS NOW's Akayla Gardner, CNN's Betsy Klein and Politico's Cheyenne Haslett among them — were turned away from the White House grounds and had their press passes taken by the Secret Service. Trump cited "cumulative stories over the last few years" but did not identify any specific report. All three organizations said they would defend their First Amendment rights. The White House Correspondents' Association, led by Fox News reporter Jacqui Heinrich, said it "stands in defense of our colleagues," and First Amendment lawyers called the ban textbook viewpoint discrimination. The ban follows the administration's earlier exclusion of the Associated Press from White House venues, which courts found unconstitutional. Democratic leaders condemned the move as authoritarian; as of September 19, no Republican member of Congress had publicly criticized it.

“Well, the president hasn't denied access. That's not the right way to describe it. … What the president has said is that he is sick and tired of certain media outlets just refusing to report accurate news … It is a privilege to be in the White House for anybody. … When you say denied access to Air Force One, the White House routinely decides who can go on Air Force One.”
Todd Blanche (R) · Sep 27, 2026

The Pentagon Fires the Publisher, Editor-in-Chief and a Reporter of Stars and Stripes for "Insubordination" — the Editor Says It Was for Saying on CBS That Censoring the Troops’ Newspaper Would Be a Red Line

On Friday, August 21, 2026, the Pentagon issued separation notices to three people at Stars and Stripes: publisher Max Lederer, who had held the job for 19 years; editor-in-chief Erik Slavin; and Middle East reporter Lara Korte. The stated cause was insubordination. Slavin said he was told his dismissal was tied to a "CBS Sunday Morning" segment that aired in July, in which he was asked a hypothetical about censorship of news for service members and answered that it would be a red line. Stars and Stripes is partially funded by the Defense Department but has operated with statutory editorial independence since the Civil War era. The firings capped a months-long sequence: a March memo tightening the department's oversight of the newsroom and imposing content restrictions; the April termination of the paper's ombudsman, a post Congress created specifically to protect its independence; and, this month, the installation of an active-duty Navy public affairs officer, Capt. William Urban, as a "military deputy" to the publisher — reportedly without consulting Lederer, who announced his retirement days later. Defense Department spokesman Sean Parnell was unapologetic, saying the department would "refocus its content away from woke distractions that syphon morale" and that the paper would be "custom tailored to our warfighters." Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) called the firings "political interference and intimidation" and said he would seek Senate Armed Services Committee hearings and changes in the National Defense Authorization Act. The day before the firings, Blumenthal, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) had written to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth demanding answers by August 28 about the Urban appointment and Lederer's departure. The firings followed Stars and Stripes reporting on conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln during its record 250-day deployment — coverage that is itself the subject of a separate Senate inquiry.

“They fired the editor of the Stars and Stripes, an independent newspaper that’s been around since 1861.”
Jason Crow (D-CO) · Sep 6, 2026

A "Meet the Press" Host Says Trump's Endorsements Have Had "Mixed Results" — and He Answers That She Will Be "Reported to the FCC for Rebuke or Punishment," Prompting the Commission's Lone Democrat to Reply That It Has No Such Power

On Sunday, August 30, 2026, "Meet the Press" moderator Kristen Welker said on the air that President Trump's primary endorsements this cycle had produced "mixed results" — a routine piece of election-season analysis nine weeks before the November 3 midterms. Trump answered on Truth Social by asking a federal regulator to act against her. Calling her "the Unpopular 'Hostess' of the once great Meet the Press, now considered Meet the Fake Press," he disputed the characterization — citing what he said were win rates of 100 percent for his endorsed Senate candidates and 98 percent for House candidates, and pointing to primary victories by Senate candidate Darline Graham and House candidate Mike Mazzei — and wrote: "Because of this purposeful inaccuracy, she will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment." He added that he hoped FCC Chairman Brendan Carr "and the fine people of his Commission, will take this Threat to our Country very seriously," and in a separate post wrote that "THE FAKE POLLS USED BY OUR CROOKED MEDIA ARE OUT OF CONTROL, AND SOMETHING MUST BE DONE ABOUT IT. FCC TO THE RESCUE!" The FCC has no such authority. Its own rules state that the Commission "cannot prevent the broadcast of any particular point of view," and it does not license individual journalists — it licenses stations. Anna Gomez, the Commission's only Democratic member and its most vocal internal critic of Carr's handling of broadcasters, said so directly within hours: "As I've said many times, the FCC has no authority to punish journalists this administration doesn't like. These threats to press freedom are dangerous. They undermine the foundation of our democracy, and they have no place in it." Carr, a Trump appointee, did not respond to CNN's request for comment. NBC News said Welker is "one of the best in the business" and that it stands behind her. The episode lands in the middle of a running fight over the FCC's posture toward broadcasters: Carr had already forced early license renewals on Disney's eight ABC stations after Trump publicly demanded ABC fire Jimmy Kimmel, a move ABC and Disney are now suing over on First Amendment grounds.

“Kristen Welker, the Unpopular 'Hostess' of the once great Meet the Press, now considered Meet the Fake Press, just stated that Donald Trump has 'mixed results' on his Endorsements of Candidates. Because of this purposeful inaccuracy, she will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment.”
Donald Trump (R-FL) · Aug 30, 2026

ABC and Disney Sue the FCC on First Amendment Grounds, Calling Brendan Carr's Forced Early Review of Eight Broadcast Licenses an "Existential Threat" — and the Commission's Lone Democrat Says She's Glad They Did

On August 18, 2026, ABC, its parent company Disney, and the eight local stations whose licenses are at issue sued the Federal Communications Commission in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, asking the court to halt an early license-renewal proceeding the agency opened in April. None of the eight licenses were due to expire before 2028, and the complaint says the commission had not demanded an early renewal like it in more than fifty years. The suit frames the proceeding as retaliation: "Acting through the Federal Communications Commission, the Administration has waged a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason: it disapproves of what ABC broadcasts." It points to President Trump's public demands that ABC lose its licenses, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr's threats against the network's broadcast licenses, an inquiry into its workplace diversity practices, and agency scrutiny of Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico's appearance on "The View." Carr, in interviews the same day, called the case meritless and said "Disney seems a little jumpy right now." Anna Gomez, the commission's only Democrat, broke with her chairman and publicly welcomed the lawsuit, saying the FCC has spent months waging "a campaign of censorship and control." A dozen Senate Democrats — led by Ed Markey, Maria Cantwell, Chuck Schumer and Ben Ray Luján — had already written to Carr in May calling the early-renewal order "an egregious abuse of power."

“Disney seems a little jumpy right now. From our perspective, we're going to continue to follow the facts and the law wherever they may lead. Perhaps Disney is concerned or worried about how the record is developing.”
Brendan Carr (R) · Aug 18, 2026

Trump Was Smuggled Off Air Force One in a Catering Truck to Escape an Iranian Threat in Turkey — and Congress Learned About It From the Press a Month Later

Leaving the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, in July 2026, President Trump boarded Air Force One and then, at the direction of the Secret Service, quietly got back off. He was driven across the tarmac inside an airport catering truck — the kind normally used to load meals and supplies — and put aboard a smaller Air Force C-32A, which flew him out separately. The original 747 departed as a decoy, still carrying Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, other White House staff and the traveling press corps. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth flew with Trump on the smaller jet. The trigger, according to officials, was intelligence about an Iranian cell with a shoulder-fired missile capable of downing the aircraft. None of it was disclosed at the time. The episode became public only on August 10, 2026, through reporting by The Washington Post and The New York Times, roughly a month after it happened. Trump confirmed it the next day, saying he was simply following the Secret Service — "I just follow what they'd like to do" — and downplaying the danger to the people left on the decoy: "I think actually the plane that I flew on was at greater risk. Because that would be the plane, I think, that they would be more likely to go for." White House communications director Steven Cheung defended the operation, saying the administration uses "every tool at our disposal." The bipartisan Gang of Eight — the congressional leaders and intelligence committee heads who receive the government's most sensitive briefings — was not told. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer demanded an immediate classified briefing, calling it "unacceptable that Congress was kept in the dark." House Intelligence ranking member Jim Himes said flatly, "We were not briefed," and Sen. Mark Warner, his Senate counterpart, was not briefed either, according to his office. Sen. Richard Blumenthal called the episode "unprecedented" and "surreal," and Sen. Chris Coons faulted Trump for leaving his own Cabinet and the press aboard the decoy. Republican congressional leaders largely declined to comment.

“I understand putting a priority on the president's security, but frankly, this was just a despicable incident of disrespect for the press and for members of his own Cabinet.”
Chris Coons (D-DE) · Aug 13, 2026

The Pentagon vs. the Press

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's escalating crackdown on Pentagon press access — from requiring reporters to sign restrictive pledges in 2025, to closing the Correspondents' Corridor and mandating escorts in 2026 — has drawn a federal court ruling that the policy is unconstitutional. Over 30 major outlets forfeited their press credentials rather than comply. The New York Times sued in December 2025, and on March 20, 2026, Judge Paul Friedman ruled the policy violated the First and Fifth Amendments. The Pentagon then tried to reimpose restrictions under new rules; on April 9, 2026, the judge ruled the Pentagon was violating his court order.

“Hegseth should be fired. He endangered our pilots, he's killing survivors at sea, and now his department is defying a federal court order to let the press do its job. The American people have a right to know what the Pentagon is doing, especially during a war.”
Adam Schiff (D-CA) · Apr 9, 2026