President Donald Trump told MS Now White House correspondent Akayla Gardner to “be quiet” as she pressed him on his attempt to ban certain news outlets from the White House press pool. The exchange occurred as Trump left the White House early on Saturday, a day after the administration barred CNN from traveling aboard Air Force One to provide pool television coverage of the president’s trip to Tennessee.
Exchange with reporter
Gardner asked Trump: “Do you only want outlets that support you to be a part of the press pool?” Trump replied, “No, no, no. I want real news, not fake news – like you.” The moment was not broadcast live, due to the removal of CNN as the designated pool television crew, but was posted on social media by the White House.
As Trump continued, repeating past insults about CNN and MS Now, which he called “MS DNC” in reference to the Democratic National Committee, Gardner pressed him further: “Do you not want tough questions?” Trump responded, “Be quiet,” before continuing to air his familiar grievance that their reporting on him is not flattering enough.
Background of tensions
Since his first presidency, Trump has labeled nonpartisan news outlets that do not openly support him “the enemy of the people”, maligning unfavorable reports as “fake news”. In his second term, he has increasingly told female reporters who ask him challenging questions to be quiet.
Tensions with the press corps soared last weekend when administration officials revoked the White House credentials of MS Now, Politico and CNN after Trump announced what he called a “ban on the free press”. A federal judge temporarily restored access for the blacklisted outlets on Thursday, but that evening MS Now and CNN reporters and producers were prevented by Trump’s aides from covering his state dinner in honor of Chinese president Xi Jinping.
CNN removed from rotation
On Friday, the White House removed CNN from a rotation of television networks charged with covering presidential travel. The White House Correspondents’ Association previously coordinated pool assignments, but the administration seized control of choosing which network provides pool television coverage each day during Trump’s second presidency.
CNN had been scheduled to accompany Trump on Saturday as he visited Knoxville, Tennessee, for a college football game. Instead, Real America’s Voice, a pro-Trump network that lacks the technical capability to provide live video for other broadcasters, accompanied the president during the brief trip. The partisan, rightwing network shared a limited number of clips of the trip on social media, including video of Trump’s image being displayed on the stadium’s big screen, which it captioned: “PRESIDENT TRUMP LIGHTS UP THE JUMBOTRON”.
Trump returned to Washington DC on Saturday afternoon without taking questions from the print reporters who were permitted to accompany him.
“He is picking a fight with the people who are telling unpleasant truths about his administration,” Brian Stelter, CNN’s chief media analyst, said on air about the network’s exclusion from Air Force One. “Today, yes, it happens to be CNN, but tomorrow it could be any other news outlet.”
