Attorney General Todd Blanche said Sunday that President Donald Trump is “sick and tired of certain media outlets just refusing to report accurate news,” defending the administration’s decision to restrict some news organizations from White House access even after a federal judge temporarily blocked the policy this week.
Blanche made the comments on ABC’s “This Week” with host Martha Raddatz, who pressed him on why there was no television pool coverage of Trump’s weekend trip to Tennessee. CNN, which was serving as the pool network that day, said it was barred from Air Force One.
“The president hasn’t denied access. That’s not the right way to describe it,” Blanche said. “What the president has said is that he is sick and tired of certain media outlets just refusing to report accurate news.”
Blanche argued that being granted access to the White House, and to the president’s plane, is “a privilege” rather than a right, and said the administration decides who travels with Trump on every trip. “This wasn’t a one-time denial of CNN,” he said. “It’s not unusual, and as a matter of fact, it’s common every time the president travels that he and his team decide which reporters get to travel with the president.”
Raddatz noted that Trump was not hidden from the public during the Tennessee trip, which included an appearance at a football game, but pushed Blanche on whether the restrictions were about punishing unfavorable coverage rather than protecting national security. Blanche insisted inaccurate reporting itself creates a security risk. “When you have completely misinformation, complete misinformation coming out of the White House, that affects our relationship with our foreign partners, that affects our relationship with our foreign enemies,” he said.
Judge Skeptical of National Security Claim
A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order this week blocking the White House from revoking press credentials, expressing doubt that national security was the real motivation. Raddatz quoted the judge’s written order: “Nothing in the record that predates this suit suggests that the revocation of plaintiffs’ hard passes was motivated by national security concerns. Certainly, that is not what President Trump said when he announced that he was banning plaintiffs from the White House. Instead, he focused on the alleged lack of truthfulness and negativity of plaintiffs’ reporting.”
Blanche declined to directly address the judge’s reasoning, saying the litigation was ongoing. “I’m not going to get into what the judge says,” he said. “Our position has been clear from the beginning. What they say is exactly the issue when it comes to national security.”
When Raddatz asked for a specific example of inaccurate reporting that posed a security risk, Blanche did not offer one, instead asserting there was no real dispute that coverage from CNN and other networks was inaccurate.
Exchange Over Screening and Criteria
Raddatz asked whether the administration planned to screen reporters before allowing them to travel with the president. Blanche denied saying that, and the two had a tense back-and-forth over what he had and had not said. “You don’t get to put words into my mouth,” Blanche told her.
Asked what criteria would determine who gets access to the White House grounds, Air Force One or the Oval Office, Blanche said that decision was not his to make. He said the administration expects coverage to be accurate and balanced, though not necessarily favorable to Republicans. “It doesn’t have to be positive,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be something that just makes Republicans look good. But it has to be fair and balanced, and that’s what the president expects.”
Raddatz also asked Blanche what the First Amendment meant to him. He responded that the press is free to report what it wants, but said the White House is “the people’s house” and that the administration has a duty to ensure Americans receive accurate information.
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