AG Blanche says White House press access is a 'privilege, not a right' after CNN Air Force One snub
Attorney General Todd Blanche told ABC's This Week on Sunday that being in the White House is a privilege, not a right, and that the president can decide who flies on Air Force One — a day after CNN was blocked from Trump's Tennessee trip pool. He framed critical coverage by CNN, MS NOW, and Politico as a national-security problem; Judge Timothy Kelly's TRO had restored their hard passes days earlier while questioning that rationale.
AI-assisted · US Brief desk · Sources listed below
What happened
Attorney General Todd Blanche told ABC's This Week on Sunday that White House access for journalists is a privilege, not a right, and that President Donald Trump can decide who travels with him on Air Force One — a day after the White House left CNN off the Saturday press pool for Trump's Tennessee trip. Appearing with Martha Raddatz amid ongoing litigation over the administration's ban on CNN, MS NOW, and Politico, Blanche also cast critical coverage by those outlets as a national-security problem even as a federal judge had recently restored their hard passes.
Privilege framing: "It is a privilege to be in the White House for anybody," Blanche said, later adding: "It is the people's house. It is a privilege, not a right, to be there." He argued the First Amendment lets outlets "report whatever they want" but that presence inside the complex is discretionary. On presidential travel, he said: "The president has every right to decide who flies on his plane," and that White House staff routinely choose which reporters fly — language that tracks the administration's post-2025 move to control Oval Office and Air Force One pool seats rather than leave those turns to the White House Correspondents' Association and the network pool.
Saturday's Air Force One snub: CNN had been scheduled as the rotating television pool for Trump's Knoxville college-football trip but was blocked; Real America's Voice was listed instead, and the White House issued no TV pool for that movement. On Saturday morning Trump posted on Truth Social that "FAKE NEWS SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED IN THE WHITE HOUSE!!!" Blanche disputed calling the episode a denial of access: "The president hasn't denied access. That's not the right way to describe it," he told ABC, saying Trump is "sick and tired" of outlets he believes refuse to report accurately.
Why it matters
The dispute is no longer only about hard passes at the Northwest Gate. Blanche's Sunday remarks put the Justice Department's top official on record defending viewpoint-based exclusion after a TRO, and they extend the fight to Air Force One and the traveling pool that supplies shared video to the wider press corps. Midterms are roughly a month away; how courts treat privilege-versus-right arguments — and whether pool duties are covered by Kelly's order — will shape what Americans see of presidential travel through November.
What’s next
Watch whether the plaintiff outlets seek clarifying relief on pool and Air Force One access before the 14-day TRO expires, how the White House assigns the next network-pool rotations, and whether DOJ doubles down on the national-security theory in further briefs. Blanche separately argued on the same show that existing criminal and civil laws are enough to police AI misuse and that new regulation should not put the United States "second or third place" — a line that echoes Trump's rejection of broader AI guardrails.
More context
What the court already said: Early Thursday, U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly granted a 14-day temporary restraining order requiring the White House to restore hard-pass credentials for CNN, MS NOW, and Politico while the case proceeds. Kelly found the outlets likely to succeed on due-process grounds and wrote he was "skeptical — at least on this record" that national security was the real motive, noting Trump's public comments focused on negativity and alleged untruthfulness rather than security. Journalists regained grounds access later Thursday and primary TV pool coverage resumed Friday for the final day of Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit — before Saturday's Air Force One exclusion again tested how far the TRO reaches beyond the complex gates.
National-security claim under pressure: Blanche told Raddatz the restrictions protect the country so foreign leaders and publics hear "accurate" information about the administration. When asked for specific inaccurate reports, he declined examples and pointed instead to coverage he described as almost entirely negative toward Trump. "Wait, give you an example of when CNN doesn't report accurately? You cannot be asking me that," The Guardian quoted him saying. He said he would not "get into what the judge says" because litigation continues, while repeating that the outlets' reporting is "exactly the issue when it comes to national security."
4 listed sources
- ABC News (Quinn Scanlan), Sep 27, 2026: AG Blanche on This Week — privilege not a right; AF1 discretion; national-security claim; no specific inaccurate-story examples
- POLITICO (David Cohen), Sep 27, 2026, 10:38 a.m. EDT: Blanche says president has right to restrict White House and Air Force One access
- The Guardian (Edward Helmore), Sep 27, 2026: Blanche defends media ban; privilege framing; Kelly TRO skepticism quoted
- CNN Politics, Sep 27, 2026: Blanche says one-sided news is a national security issue
References listed by US Brief; a source count is not a verification score.
Editorial sourcing notes
Sunday interview quotes and privilege framing follow ABC News (Quinn Scanlan), POLITICO (David Cohen), and The Guardian (Edward Helmore), Sep 27, 2026. Saturday Air Force One pool swap was covered earlier in White House leaves CNN off Air Force One for Trump's Tennessee trip, seats Real America's Voice; Judge Kelly's TRO is covered in CNN, MS NOW, and Politico ask judge to extend White House access order. Blanche offered no specific story examples when pressed; national-security rationale remains contested by the court's TRO record.
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