CNN dealt a fresh blow to President Donald Trump amid a heated standoff over news coverage.
The network did not air the ratings-obsessed president’s Tuesday speech addressing the United Nations General Assembly in New York City after Trump banned CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House last week in a fit of rage over unfavorable coverage.
Trump, 80, briefly disappeared from the airwaves after major TV networks put on a rare show of solidarity and refused to cover events designated by the White House as “pool coverage,” meaning one network is tasked with attending an event and later distributing information and media, like video footage, to other news outlets.
The president returned to Americans’ television screens on Tuesday thanks to a feed from the United Nations’ in-house station. But CNN notably decided not to carry the feed.
Trump appeared surprised—and infuriated—to see CNN’s star White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins at the United Nations headquarters.
“It’s an honor to be here. I’m surprised that CNN is here covering me. You shouldn’t be here,” he said. You should not be here covering me. You said you weren’t gonna cover me, you shouldn’t be covering me.”
“But I will tell you, it is an honor to be at the United Nations and we’re making a lot of progress,” the president pivoted. “Our country is doing really, really well.”
Collins later clapped back with an explanation of how CNN managed to cover the U.N. despite getting its White House credentials snatched away.
“The president came in, he briefly came over to speak to the reporters—who, I should note, are here because we are credentialed by the United Nations while being blocked by the White House from covering the president,” she said.
A network executive told the Daily Beast that CNN has always been clear that it will continue to cover Trump.
“We will not be deflected from our duty to hold the government and other public bodies to account, and we will continue to report on the actions and processes of this administration without fear or favor,” the network said in a previous statement.
On Friday, Trump escalated his long-simmering feud with the media by announcing in a Truth Social post that he was “proud” to ban CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House “effectively immediately,” citing their ‘constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS!”
The outlets swiftly sued the Trump administration, arguing a “blatant violation” of the First Amendment.
Over the following days, several other media organizations stood alongside their colleagues by pulling back on their coverage of Trump.
The White House TV pool—composed of ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, CNN and Fox News—said it would not cover events designated as pool coverage. The Associated Press, Reuters, Getty Images, Agence France-Presse, The New York Times, and The Washington Post also temporarily held photos of Trump’s events on Monday in solidarity with the banned news outlets.
Even C-SPAN issued a rare statement calling on the Trump administration to reverse its decision.
“C-SPAN typically stays out of the news cycle and lets the sights and sounds of politics speak for themselves,” CEO Sam Feist said. “But access to America’s leaders and institutions is at the heart of our public service mission — and throughout our history, our colleagues in the news media have supported our efforts to bring more openness to government.”
