WASHINGTON (Sept. 18, 2026) — President Donald Trump said Friday afternoon that he had banned CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House over what he called their constant “reporting” FAKE NEWS, posting the announcement on Truth Social and warning that other outlets would “follow.”

In the Truth Social post, Trump wrote that he was “banning Fake News CNN, MSNOW … and Politico … from the White House as a result of their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS,” adding: “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. Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow.”

I am proud to announce that, effective immediately, I am banning Fake News CNN, MSNOW … and Politico … from the White House as a result of their constant “reporting” FAKE NEWS! … Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow.

— Donald J. Trump on Truth Social, Sept. 18, 2026

NBC News (updated ~3:35 p.m. ET) and The Guardian’s U.S. politics live blog reported the post Friday afternoon. Trump did not name which other outlets might be next. CNBC said the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment; CNN, MS NOW, and Politico did not immediately respond to NBC.

Ban posted — physical removal not confirmed

NBC cautioned that it was not immediately clear whether journalists for those outlets had actually been removed from White House grounds as of Friday afternoon. There was no separate White House pool confirmation in the initial wave of coverage that credentials had been pulled or that reporters had been barred from the complex — only the president’s social-media declaration.

That distinction matters for press access: a Truth Social rant is not the same as an operational ban enforced by the Secret Service or the White House Correspondents’ Association pool. Until credentials or physical access are confirmed revoked, the story is an announced intent and a threat of further exclusions — not a verified lockout.

Earlier AP fight; speech and state power

The episode lands in a running fight over who may cover the presidency. Shortly after taking office, Trump banned the Associated Press from the Oval Office, Air Force One, and other events after AP declined to adopt his “Gulf of America” renaming of the Gulf of Mexico; AP sued, and that case remains ongoing, NBC reported.

Using the machinery of the executive branch to decide which reporters may stand in the press room is an exercise of state power over the press — whatever one thinks of any outlet’s coverage. First Amendment challenges have already shadowed prior White House access fights; Friday’s post raises the same question again without, as of NBC’s update, a confirmed physical bar.

Dated Friday, Sept. 18, 2026: Truth Social ban on CNN, MS NOW, Politico over “FAKE NEWS”; other outlets threatened, unnamed; NBC — removal from grounds not immediately clear.

Sources