White House bars CNN from Air Force One Knoxville trip despite TRO
Despite Judge Timothy Kelly’s TRO restoring White House hard passes for CNN, MS NOW, and Politico, the White House barred CNN from the network video pool seat on Air Force One for President Trump’s Saturday Knoxville college-football trip, seating Real America’s Voice instead.
The White House barred CNN from flying on Air Force One for President Trump’s trip to a college football game in Knoxville, Tennessee, replacing the network’s traditional video-pool turn with Real America’s Voice, Al Jazeera and related Saturday wires reported.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly’s 14-day temporary restraining order restored hard passes for CNN, MS NOW, and Politico after finding the government’s national-security rationale lacked factual support, but the order centered on White House grounds access and did not expressly litigate Air Force One pool seats. Plaintiffs’ counsel Theodore Boutrous argued on CNN that the TRO should also cover pool duties.
Fox, ABC, CBS, and NBC had previously declined to fill the pool in solidarity when CNN was excluded. Accounts agree CNN was kept off the Knoxville jet; they diverge on whether Kelly’s order legally reaches AF1 seating or whether a fresh motion is required.
Where outlets agree Al Jazeera, BBC context, the Washington Examiner, and the New York Post agree CNN was left off the Air Force One pool for the Knoxville trip even after Judge Kelly’s TRO restored hard passes.
Where they differ Whether the TRO’s due-process remedy extends to Air Force One pool assignment remains legally unsettled; Examiner/NY Post emphasize White House pool discretion while Al Jazeera frames an escalating press-access fight.