White House removes Politico from press pool for Trump's trip to Nebraska

The administration took similar action last week against CNN. The cable news network, MS NOW and Politico sued after they were banned from the White House grounds.

The White House prohibited Politico on Monday from traveling on Air Force One with President Donald Trump as he heads to Nebraska for a campaign rally.

The move comes amid a legal fight between the Trump administration and several news organizations.

“Many outlets including Politico are granted access to attend and cover presidential events unilaterally, but traveling with the President of the United States aboard Air Force One is a privilege not a right,” a White House official said in a statement.

CNN first reported the administration’s action against Politico.

The White House last month banned Politico, CNN and MS NOW from entering the White House, with Trump saying on Truth Social that the move was “a result of their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS!” A federal judge last month ordered the administration to temporarily restore their access, but the order was limited to the White House grounds.

Dana Beckman, a spokesperson for Politico, confirmed that the news outlet was excluded from the travel pool but did not have additional comment. A lawyer representing the three news outlets in their lawsuit against the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The White House last week removed CNN from the press pool set to cover Trump’s trip to Texas and Oklahoma.

The White House press pool consists of media outlets that share video, editorial information and costs for coverage of high-profile officials and events involving the president anywhere in the world. Under the system, designated “poolers” represent the wider press corps each day to document newsworthy events and serve as a conduit between the president and the public.

The White House press corps has separate print, radio, still photography and TV pools.

Politico was set to serve as the print travel pool Monday. A pool note from CBS News, which is handling the TV pool for the day, said the White House was unable to find a news outlet to replace Politico.

After CNN was restricted from administration events last month, the four other member networks of the press pool — Fox News, ABC News, CBS News and NBC News — declined to participate in pool duties in solidarity.

CBS on Monday said it would share its TV pool notes — which are usually distributed internally among the five pool networks — with the White House Correspondents’ Association. The network noted it was not replacing Politico as the print pool.

The White House Correspondents’ Association, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and a group of 49 news and media organizations that included NBCUniversal Media, the parent company of NBC News and this NBC Local station, filed a legal brief last month in support of CNN, MS NOW and Politico.

Caroline Kenny contributed.