WASHINGTON (Sept. 19, 2026) — Journalists from MS NOW and CNN said Saturday morning they were denied access to the White House grounds and had credentials disabled or seized, one day after President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he had banned those outlets and Politico over what he called their constant “reporting” FAKE NEWS.

The Saturday turnaways are the first confirmed enforcement of Friday’s announcement — not a rehash of the threat. Friday evening, reporters for the named outlets were still on campus; by Saturday, badges stopped working at the magnetometers.

According to NBC News (updated ~10:28 a.m. ET Saturday), MS NOW White House correspondent Akayla Gardner said her badge failed to scan, an officer took it, told her it was disabled, and when she asked why she could not get in, said it was “above him.” An MS NOW photographer was also denied; Gardner said one MS NOW producer’s badge still worked and that producer got through.

CNN White House reporter Betsy Klein was turned away as well. NBC reported she spent about a minute inside the security kiosk before emerging without her credential, which she said had been confiscated. Klein told CNN on air that a Secret Service agent said her press pass had been deactivated and referred further questions to the White House Press Office.

MS NOW said in a Saturday statement: “The White House belongs to the American people and the decisions made inside are funded by our tax dollars,” adding that it “intends to take any and all steps necessary to defend our First Amendment rights” and will continue reporting on the president and the administration.

CNN said Saturday the ban is an “illegal assault” on the constitutional right to report “without hinderance or interference from the government,” and that it will continue covering the administration “without fear or favor.”

The White House declined further comment Saturday and referred reporters to Trump’s prior remarks, NBC reported.

Friday’s order — and who pushed back

In a Truth Social post Friday afternoon, Trump said he was banning “Fake News CNN, MSNOW … and Politico” from the White House “effective immediately,” accusing them of “FAKE NEWS,” claiming Politico received an “illegal” $8 million government subscription under the Biden administration, and warning that other outlets would “follow.” Our earlier report on that announcement is here: Trump says he banned CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House.

Politico’s communications team disputed the subsidy claim as false and thoroughly debunked, and said the outlet will “vigorously defend our First Amendment rights against any attempt to restrict them.”

White House Correspondents’ Association President Jacqui Heinrich said the Constitution protects press freedom from government interference “whether the president likes a news organization’s coverage” or not, and that the WHCA “stands in defense of our colleagues at CNN, MS NOW, and Politico.”

New York Times spokesperson Charlie Stadtlander noted courts have twice found the Trump administration violated the Constitution by suspending White House press passes, and said the Times supports the targeted organizations.

Audio obtained by NBC from a Friday Colgate University appearance captured former President Barack Obama saying it would have been “unimaginable” if he had barred Fox News, arguing that if some Americans accept that kind of restriction, “we have not developed the kind of understanding of what democracy requires.”

Context: viewpoint discrimination and open fights

First Amendment lawyers have long argued that once the White House opens a press facility to some journalists, excluding others because it dislikes their coverage is textbook viewpoint discrimination. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press called a ban like Friday’s “flatly unconstitutional” on Friday.

The fight sits alongside Trump’s ongoing effort to keep the Associated Press out of the Oval Office, Air Force One, and some events after AP declined to adopt his “Gulf of America” naming — a case still in court — and the Acosta-era credential fights of the first term.

Concentrated executive power deciding which reporters may stand on public grounds to cover the people’s house is the story. CNN and MS NOW say they will keep reporting anyway. Whether federal courts treat Saturday’s badge kill-switches the way they treated prior pass suspensions is the next act.

Sources: NBC News (Sept. 19, 2026); CNN statements and Betsy Klein on-air report; MS NOW statement; White House Correspondents’ Association (Sept. 18); Trump Truth Social (Sept. 18); Insanity Developing prior report.