Several Fox News talking heads blasted President Donald Trump on Friday after he banned CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House.
“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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, while promising, “Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow.”
Shortly after, Trump took questions from reporters in the Oval Office, where he suggested that The New York Times and The Washington Post could be the next outlets banned.
“I mean, they’re disgusting,” he said. “I don’t get it. Why would they be? You know, we’re doing so well, and they’ll take the most positive story and make it as negative as possible.”
The move drew widespread and bipartisan condemnation from various media personalities, including several from Fox News on social media.
Fox News White House Correspondent Jacqui Heinrich, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, issued a statement via the WHCA condemning the move:
The president said it plainly in the Oval Office, describing his own planned action as a “ban on the free press.”
The Constitution protects the freedom of the press from government interference. That protection does not depend on whether the president likes a news organization’s coverage, agrees with its reporting, or approves of the questions its journalists ask.
This is about more than the rights of journalists. It is about the right of the American people to receive a full and independent account of the activities, policies and decisions of whoever occupies the nation’s highest office.
The WHCA stands in defense of our colleagues at CNN, MSNOW, and Politico who are being singled out for doing their jobs.
John Roberts, who co-hosts Fox’s America Reports, said he does not expect the ban to last long:
Obama tried to exclude Fox from certain White House access back in 2009. Lasted about a half a heartbeat. I expect this one will too.
Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley ripped the ban as “an assault on long-honored principles of a free press.
