Attorney General Todd Blanche is standing firmly behind President Donald Trump’s recent move to bar CNN from traveling aboard Air Force One. Speaking during an appearance on This Week, Blanche argued that the White House maintains the absolute authority to determine who accompanies the commander in chief on official trips. The controversy stems from a September 26 flight to Neyland Stadium for a college football matchup between the University of Texas and the University of Tennessee, where CNN found itself excluded from the television pool.
Blanche dismissed claims that the exclusion was an unprecedented attack on press freedom, suggesting instead that such decisions are routine and happen frequently across various administrations. He maintained that selecting which reporters fly is a standard operational procedure for any presidential team. However, he took a sharper tone when discussing why specific networks might be targeted, claiming that persistent misinformation and one sided reporting by certain organizations could eventually evolve into a national security concern, though he offered no specific examples to support this claim.
The clash over Air Force One is part of a larger, escalating battle between the administration and several major news outlets regarding press credentials and campus access. In addition to the flight restriction, there have been attempts to ban journalists from CNN, Politico, and MS NOW from entering White House grounds entirely. During his interview with Martha Raddatz, Blanche framed these restrictions not as denials of access but as reactions to inaccurate reporting, reminding critics that working within the White House is a privilege rather than an inherent right.
These tensions have already spilled over into the legal system. Just days prior to this latest incident, U.S. District Judge Tim Kelly issued a temporary restraining order requiring the government to reinstate press passes for those affected outlets. While the judge blocked the enforcement of the ban for two weeks and ordered the restoration of revoked credentials, the rhetoric coming from Attorney General Blanche suggests that the administration remains committed to its stance on controlling who gets close to the president.
