White House Blocks Politico From Air Force One on Its Pool Day as Press-Access Fight Heads Back to Court
The White House refused to give Politico its scheduled seat on Air Force One Monday, the latest flashpoint in the escalating battle over presidential press access. The administration says access to the White House campus is a different question from tight spaces like the presidential jet — a distinction a federal judge will weigh at a hearing Thursday.
The Trump administration is drawing a hard line between the White House campus and the president's airplane — and Politico just ran into it.
Monday was Politico's turn to serve as the print pool representative, the rotating role that puts one reporter on Air Force One to document the president's movements for the entire press corps. The White House refused the outlet a seat on the flight. A Politico spokesperson confirmed the publication was excluded from the out-of-town travel pool, the small group of reporters who travel with the president on trips.
The administration's position is straightforward: access to the White House complex is not the same thing as access to tight, confined spaces like Air Force One, where seating is limited and the White House has long controlled the manifest. In the administration's view, the federal judge's order that restored press credentials covered badges for the campus — not a guaranteed seat on the president's jet.
That distinction is the heart of the fight. In September, President Trump announced he was "banning" Politico, CNN, and MS NOW from the White House, a move the outlets' lawsuit called a violation of the First and Fifth Amendments. The outlets sued on September 21, and U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly sided with them, issuing a temporary restraining order requiring the administration to reinstate the journalists' press badges.
But since that ruling, the White House has repeatedly barred CNN from traveling on Air Force One on days when it was CNN's turn to be the TV pool representative. Monday was simply Politico's turn in the same pattern — the first time the print pool seat has been blocked.
The outlets see it as retaliation by another name. Their position is that freezing out specific news organizations threatens press freedom and the public's right to independent coverage of the presidency, and their attorney, Theodore Boutrous Jr., has argued the judge's ruling covers pool access as well. The Associated Press is also fighting a related battle, pressing an ongoing lawsuit over the same distinction the administration is invoking.
Thursday brings the next decision point. Judge Kelly is scheduled to hold a hearing on the outlets' request for a preliminary injunction, which would lock in press access for a longer stretch ahead of any trial. Monday's barring of Politico is expected to land in the outlets' next legal filing — meaning the fight over who rides Air Force One is now officially evidence in the case.