Politics
NEW: Fox News Under Fire After Siding With CNN, MS NOW Against Trump
Fox News is at the center of a growing White House press fight after the television pool suspended its coverage of President Donald Trump following the administration’s decision to remove CNN from its scheduled pool duties.
Fox News Washington bureau chief Bryan Boughton, serving as acting chair of the television pool consortium, notified members Monday that televised pool coverage would stop.
“Effective today, the TV pool will not be covering events designated as pool coverage of the President,” Boughton said in a note to pool members.
“This follows the White House’s position preventing CNN from fulfilling its assigned pool duties,” Boughton wrote. “There will be no replacement pool put in place.”
The move followed Trump’s decision to bar CNN, MS NOW and Politico journalists from the White House over coverage he has repeatedly described as unfair and inaccurate.
CNN had been scheduled to begin its rotation as the primary television pooler Monday.
Instead, Trump’s White House schedule did not list a primary TV pooler, setting off the standoff.
Bryan Boughton, who runs the Fox News Washington bureau and is the current TV pool chair, says in an email; ”This is to advise that, effective today, the TV pool will not be covering events designated as pool coverage of the President.”
“This follows the White House’s position…
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) September 21, 2026
The television pool is made up of ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC, which rotate responsibility for providing footage of presidential events to the broader press corps.
Boughton said print and radio pool coverage would continue.
“We will provide updates as this situation develops,” he added.
CNN had also been scheduled to provide television coverage of Trump’s appearance at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The dispute escalated after Trump announced Friday that CNN, MS NOW and Politico would no longer be allowed inside the White House.
Reporters from all three organizations were denied entry Saturday after their press credentials were deactivated.
Donald Trump said the decision stemmed from what he viewed as years of hostile coverage.
RELATED: BREAKING: Trump Bans CNN, Other ‘Fake News’ Outlets From White House Grounds
The three organizations responded Monday by filing a federal lawsuit against Trump and senior administration officials, alleging that the ban amounted to unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination and violated their First Amendment rights.
The White House has defended the decision, while Trump rejected accusations that his administration was attacking press freedom.
Fox News itself had reported Trump’s announcement Friday, including his explanation that the action followed what he described as a pattern of negative coverage by the three outlets.
The dispute has now pulled the television pool into the fight, with CNN’s removal preventing the network from carrying out its scheduled duties and the remaining members declining to substitute another network.
The White House press pool system has operated for decades as a way for a limited number of reporters and camera crews to cover the president when space or security restrictions make full press access impossible.
The pool then distributes its reporting and footage to participating news organizations.
With televised pool coverage suspended, the clash between the White House and several major media companies has now expanded beyond the three outlets Trump initially targeted.
