The White House last October also barred reporters from accessing a West Wing office used by communications staff, and early in Trump’s second term took control over the management of the White House pool rotation, which had long been handled by the White House Correspondents’ Association.
Jacqui Heinrich, the WHCA president and a Fox News correspondent, criticized Trump’s move in a statement.
“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,” she said. “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.”
In a Friday editorial marking the publication’s 175th birthday, New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger blasted Trump as the most “hostile” president to the press in modern history. Last September, Trump sued the Times for $15 billion, but the lawsuit was quickly quashed by a judge. Trump refiled that suit in August.
Trump attacked POLITICO by saying that “the government under Biden gave them like $8 million to keep them afloat,” reviving a false claim that the White House used to go after the company in 2025 when Trump’s administration canceled subscriptions to the POLITICO Pro policy news service.
“The claims that POLITICO received government subsidies are false and have been thoroughly debunked,” POLITICO said in its statement.
Ashley Ahn and Elleiana Green contributed to this report.
