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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

Trump Cuts the Ribbon on a White House Helipad Paid For by Lockheed Martin — Thanking the CEO of a Contractor Holding More Than $40 Billion in Government Work — While Mark Warner Calls It One of the "Crazy Vanity Projects That Only Serve Himself" and Connecticut Democrats Say the Bill May Land on Taxpayers Anyway

On Monday, September 21, 2026, President Trump used oversized gold scissors to cut a red, white and blue ribbon on a new granite helipad on the White House South Lawn, then took Marine One's first flight from it. The roughly $5–6 million landing pad was paid for not by Congress but by Sikorsky Aircraft — a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin — through a contribution routed to the National Park Service. Trump posted afterward that he wanted "to thank Jim Taiclet, CEO of Lockheed Martin, who made this valuable contribution to our Country," adding, "Our Government has been thinking about doing this for 25 years, but was never able to get it done. I get things done!" The donor is also one of the federal government's largest contractors, holding more than $40 billion in new and expanded government contracts, and it had already given $1 million to Trump's inauguration and more than $10 million toward his White House ballroom. The official rationale is that exhaust from Sikorsky's new VH-92 Patriot Marine One helicopters was scorching the South Lawn grass. Democrats have objected since the project was announced in July. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand called it a "joke," contrasting it with a bipartisan housing bill Trump would not sign. Sen. Mark Warner said Trump was "charging taxpayers an extra $875,000 just to speed up construction of his private White House helipad — adding to the hundreds of millions he's spent on crazy vanity projects that only serve himself." Connecticut's delegation — Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy and Reps. John Larson, Joe Courtney and Rosa DeLauro, who represent Sikorsky's Stratford workforce — praised the company's workers but said Trump was "rushing to complete yet another White House project without providing the American people with the transparency they deserve." The ribbon-cutting itself became a second story: the major television networks skipped live coverage in protest of Trump's ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, leaving the president inaudible over helicopter noise on an in-house video feed.

“We are just leaving the White House Lawn on the maiden voyage from the newly built, and very beautiful, Heliport! I want to thank Jim Taiclet, CEO of Lockheed Martin, who made this valuable contribution to our Country. Our Government has been thinking about doing this for 25 years, but was never able to get it done. I get things done! Also, and most importantly, THANK YOU to the Great Construction Workers and Stone Masons of the Washington, D.C., area, who created something very special, and to Clark Construction for its wonderful supervisory work. GOD BLESS AMERICA!”
Donald Trump (R-FL) · Sep 21, 2026

Aug 31, 2026· Updated

Trump White House Ballroom Construction

President Trump demolished the White House East Wing in October 2025 to build a 90,000-square-foot grand ballroom, estimated at $400 million and funded by private donors. The project has faced repeated legal challenges: a federal judge halted construction on March 31, 2026, ruling Trump needs congressional authorization; the National Capital Planning Commission approved the design 8-1 on April 2; an appeals court allowed work to continue on April 11; but on April 16, Judge Richard Leon again blocked above-ground construction, ruling "national security is not a blank check to proceed with otherwise unlawful activity" and rejecting the administration's argument that the ballroom was inseparable from underground security facilities. Trump called Leon a "Trump Hating" judge and the administration is expected to seek Supreme Court review.

“We are living in the Golden Age of America, and this Building will be one of the Greatest ever constructed in Washington, D.C.”
Donald Trump (R-FL) · Aug 31, 2026

Aug 18, 2026· Updated

Jon Ossoff Names Trump's Personal Aide in an Atlanta Campaign Speech — and the White House Answers With Obscenities From Its Communications Director and Press Shop

At a campaign event in Atlanta on August 16, 2026, Sen. Jon Ossoff — on the ballot in November — attacked President Trump's engagement with the job by name-checking Natalie Harp, the executive assistant who travels with him and handles his dictated posts and messages. Ossoff tied it to the Iran war and the USS Abraham Lincoln's record deployment: the president, he said, "sleeps through his meetings, he golfs, and trades stocks," and wants to "build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the emir of Qatar," a reference to the Qatari-donated aircraft. The White House response was unusually personal and profane. Communications Director Steven Cheung and spokesman Davis Ingle each issued statements attacking Ossoff's character rather than rebutting the substance, and Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) defended Harp by invoking her cancer history. Trump, asked about the attack in the Oval Office on August 17, dismissed Ossoff as a "Pee-wee Herman lookalike." The exchange is a marker for the Georgia Senate race and for how the administration handles criticism aimed at the president's personal staff — a subject the White House has otherwise kept off the record.

“Natalie Harp survived bone cancer because President Trump allowed her the "right to try." Now she's an extremely hardworking and trusted assistant. Any other insinuation is vile.”
Brandon Gill (R-TX) · Aug 18, 2026

Warren and Garcia Demand Trump Name the Managers Behind 21,000 Stock Trades and Explain Purchases That Preceded His Own Policy Announcements

On August 12, 2026, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) sent President Trump a 17-page letter — first reported by CNBC on August 13 — demanding he identify the money managers he says control his investment accounts and explain dozens of stock trades that lined up with official government actions or market-moving presidential statements. The letter covers more than 21,000 trades reported in 2025 and roughly 3,500 more in the first quarter of 2026 alone, an average of about 50 trades every day markets were open. Warren and Garcia asked Trump to list "all third-party institutions and managers that direct your trades," explain how they were selected, what mandate they were given, and what investment processes they follow. They flagged 15 instances they characterized as Trump buying into a company shortly before an official announcement favorable to it — including purchases of Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices on January 6, a week before the administration loosened chip export controls affecting sales to China, and a February 10 purchase of between $1 million and $5 million in Axon Enterprises, the Taser manufacturer, two weeks before ICE announced a $220 million Taser contract. The New York Times has reported there is no indication Trump holds a true blind trust; the lawmakers pressed that point, noting Trump personally signed a financial disclosure certifying his awareness of thousands of individual stock transactions. The White House dismissed the inquiry. Eric Trump said the president's holdings are held in fully discretionary accounts run by independent third-party institutions using automated, model-based portfolios, and the Trump Organization called the letter "just another baseless political stunt." Warren and Garcia set an August 28 deadline for a response.

“the same, tired narrative that Democrats have pushed against President Trump, his family, and his administration for a decade”
Anna Kelly (R) · Aug 13, 2026

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Aug 12, 2026

Karoline Leavitt, the Youngest White House Press Secretary in History, Will Leave at the End of August

On Wednesday, August 12, 2026, President Trump announced on Truth Social that White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt will depart the administration at the end of the month. Leavitt, 28, was the youngest person ever to hold the job and the first to be pregnant in the role, having returned to the podium after the birth of her second child. Leavitt said in a post on X that she could not be the mother her two young children deserve while giving the press secretary's job the time it demands, calling the decision "bittersweet." Trump said he understood and respected the decision and that Leavitt would stay on as one of his top outside advisers and "an influential voice within the Republican Party" heading into the midterm elections. The announcement drew immediate praise from senior administration figures, including Vice President JD Vance and White House communications director Steven Cheung. NBC News reported the White House might not name a successor until after the November midterms — leaving the most visible communications post in the administration in flux during the closing stretch of the campaign, and during an August dominated by the Iran war, the Kennedy Center fight, and the SAVE America Act standoff.

“Karoline will be departing her role at the end of the month so she can spend more time with her beautiful young children and family, a decision I totally understand and respect! Karoline will now be one of my top outside advisors, and an influential voice within the Republican Party, as we work to defy History, and conclusively win the Midterm Elections.”
Donald Trump (R-FL) · Aug 12, 2026