White House reverses media ban after federal judge orders CNN, Politico, MS NOW back inside

The Trump administration allowed banned reporters back into the White House on Thursday after a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order, but not before officials seized press credentials that morning in defiance of the court's ruling.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly granted the restraining order early Thursday morning, September 24, 2026, requiring the White House to restore access to CNN, Politico, and MS NOW. The three outlets had filed a lawsuit on Monday after President Trump banned them the previous Friday in a social media post accusing them of peddling "fake news." The case moved fast. The court order came down before dawn. And the White House, at least initially, ignored it.

Reporters from all three outlets arrived Thursday morning and were turned away. At least one Politico reporter and one MS NOW reporter had their credentials physically confiscated, hours after a federal judge had ordered access restored. CNN host Kaitlan Collins posted on X that CNN was finally allowed back inside at noon. The other outlets followed by that afternoon.

The reversal came on the same day Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived at the White House for a state visit, a diplomatic event that nearly unfolded with no major American press coverage at all.

Four major networks refused to cover the president until the ban lifted

The media standoff escalated well beyond the three banned outlets. Fox News, NBC, CBS, and ABC all refused to cover the president in solidarity with CNN, MS NOW, and Politico. Broadcast teams broke down their cameras at the airport on Wednesday when Trump and First Lady Melania Trump greeted Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan. Nobody filmed it.

ABC News, which held the rotating TV pool assignment for Thursday's state visit events, reportedly would not enter any White House event until officials provided proof that CNN journalists had been allowed inside. The result was a near-total media blackout of one of the most significant diplomatic meetings of the year.

The vacuum did not go unfilled. Real America's Voice, a network friendly to the administration, streamed state visit events on YouTube. But the absence of every major broadcast network from the White House grounds during a visit by the leader of the world's second-largest economy was without recent precedent.

The episode followed a week in which Trump launched his own streaming network as legacy outlets boycotted White House coverage, a move that signaled the administration was prepared to bypass traditional press infrastructure entirely.

Trump's ban started with a social media post and an aide's presentation

The chain of events began the previous Friday, when Trump posted on social media announcing the ban. He accused CNN, MS NOW, and Politico of trafficking in "fake news." Trump aide Natalie Harp reportedly showed the president a slate of negative coverage from those outlets in the moments before the ban was announced.

By Monday, the three outlets had filed suit. By Thursday morning, a federal judge had sided with them, at least temporarily. Judge Kelly's restraining order effectively required the administration to restore access while the case proceeded.

The White House Correspondents' Association condemned the ban in a statement from its president, Jacqui Heinrich. She pointed to Trump's own words in making the case against the policy:

"The President said it plainly in the Oval Office, describing his own planned action as a 'ban on the free press.'"

Heinrich's statement went further, framing the dispute in constitutional terms:

"The Constitution protects the freedom of the press from government interference. 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."

The Daily Mail contacted the White House for comment but received no response.

Xi's state visit proceeded under a diplomatic cloud

Whatever the administration's intent, the timing of the media ban created an awkward backdrop for high-stakes diplomacy. Xi Jinping and Peng Liyuan arrived at the White House on Thursday for a formal state visit. Trump welcomed them at the South Portico.

In his remarks, Trump struck a warm tone, saying he and Xi had "spent time together all over the world" and had "forged a friendship, a truly great friendship, actually." He called his earlier visit to Beijing a "great privilege" and praised Xi's "spectacular and very beautiful hospitality." He and the First Lady, Trump said, "are honoured to host you" in "the beautiful White House."

The visit came during a period of notable activity at the White House, including a Supreme Court ruling allowing construction of a new White House ballroom to proceed.

Xi, for his part, called for stronger communication between the two nations. He acknowledged that the countries differ in "national condition" but said that "through candid, in-depth, and continued dialogue, our two countries can understand each other better, seek common ground, while shelving differences and build up mutual trust." He said the two leaders had established a "personal rapport" and encouraged their governments to maintain regular dialogue, including between their militaries, with competition kept "within bounds."

Those diplomatic niceties played out while the press corps was still sorting out who could enter the building and who could not. The spectacle of a Chinese state visit covered primarily by a single friendly outlet, while four broadcast networks stood down, is not the image any administration wants attached to a summit.

Credentials remain in limbo even after the reversal

Even after reporters were allowed back inside, it remained unclear when the White House would officially restore the outlets' permanent credentials. Physical press passes had been confiscated from at least two reporters that morning. Whether those passes were returned, or whether reporters entered under some temporary arrangement, was not specified.

The lawsuit filed Monday is still active, and the restraining order is temporary. The legal fight over whether the president can unilaterally strip press access from specific outlets is far from settled. Judge Kelly's order forced the immediate question, access for the Xi visit, but the broader constitutional dispute will play out over weeks or months.

Notably, Melania Trump had already quietly credentialed CNN and Politico reporters for a separate UN event even while the White House ban was still in effect, a signal that the administration's own internal posture on the ban was not entirely unified.

MS NOW correspondent Akayla Gardner was photographed outside White House grounds after the ban took effect, one of the visible faces of the standoff. The image of credentialed reporters locked out of the building while a foreign head of state walked in told its own story.

Meanwhile, the administration has continued to make moves on other fronts, including Trump's decision to formalize Marco Rubio's dual national security role, a personnel choice that drew its own share of attention.

The lesson the White House learned the hard way

Presidents have every right to criticize press coverage they consider unfair. That instinct is not new, and it is not limited to one party. But banning specific outlets, defying a federal court order, and seizing reporters' credentials on the morning of a state visit is not media criticism. It is a series of decisions that handed the administration's opponents a week of damaging headlines and turned a diplomatic showcase into a press-freedom story.

The ban lasted roughly a week. The lawsuit will last longer. And the footage of an empty press section during a Chinese state visit will circulate longer still. The administration reversed course because a judge ordered it and because the solidarity of the broadcast networks made the alternative, a presidency covered only by friendly outlets, untenable on the biggest diplomatic stage of the fall.

A president strong enough to host Xi Jinping at the White House is strong enough to take tough questions from reporters he does not like. The reversal proved the administration knows it. The week that preceded it suggests they needed reminding.