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Trump
White
House
Replaces
CNN Pool
Assignment
With
Pro-Trump
LindellTV
Marc
Kennedy
-
National-Politics
Tell Us
USA News
Network
WASHINGTON
— The
Trump
White
House
escalated
its
confrontation
with the
press
Saturday,
blocking
CNN from
its
scheduled
Air
Force
One pool
assignment
and
allowing
pro-Trump
outlets,
including
LindellTV,
to join
the
president’s
trip to
Knoxville,
Tennessee.
CNN had
been
scheduled
to serve
as the
rotating
television-pool
network
for
Trump’s
trip, an
assignment
that
requires
the
designated
outlet
to
gather
video
and
report
on the
president’s
activities
for
distribution
to the
rest of
the
major
broadcast
networks.
Instead,
White
House
guidance
removed
CNN from
the
travel
pool and
listed
LindellTV
as a
secondary
television
outlet,
along
with
Real
America’s
Voice.
The
change
came
days
after a
federal
judge
ordered
the
White
House to
restore
the
press
credentials
of CNN,
MS NOW
and
Politico,
which
Trump
had
barred
from the
White
House
following
his
complaints
about
their
coverage.
The
judge’s
order
addressed
the
outlets’
access
to the
White
House
complex,
but it
did not
specifically
govern
the
separate
pool
arrangements
that
determine
which
journalists
travel
with the
president
on Air
Force
One and
cover
space-limited
events.
That
distinction
has now
become
central
to the
dispute.
While
CNN was
allowed
back
into the
White
House
after
the
court
order,
the
administration
used its
control
over
presidential
travel
to keep
the
network
from
fulfilling
its
assigned
role in
the
television-pool
rotation.
LindellTV’s
appearance
on the
Air
Force
One
schedule
is
especially
significant
because
it is
operated
by Mike
Lindell,
a
prominent
Trump
ally who
has
repeatedly
promoted
false
claims
about
the 2020
election.
Real
America’s
Voice is
a
conservative
outlet
with
programming
closely
aligned
with
Trump’s
political
movement.
The
White
House’s
decision
did not
simply
limit
CNN’s
individual
access.
It
disrupted
the pool
system
used by
major
news
organizations
to
ensure
independent
coverage
of a
president’s
movements
when
space or
security
restrictions
prevent
every
outlet
from
attending.
CNN’s
scheduled
spot on
Air
Force
One has
historically
been
reserved
for a
member
of the
five-network
television
pool,
which
includes
CNN,
ABC,
CBS, NBC
and Fox
News.
Neither
LindellTV
nor Real
America’s
Voice is
a member
of that
traditional
rotating
pool.
The move
follows
the
White
House
ban
affecting
CNN, MS
NOW and
Politico,
three
outlets
Trump
accused
of
publishing
unfavorable
or
inaccurate
coverage.
Federal
Judge
Timothy
J. Kelly
temporarily
blocked
that
broader
exclusion
order
Thursday
and
directed
the
administration
to
restore
the
outlets’
credentials.
Saturday’s
travel-pool
decision
demonstrates
that the
confrontation
is
continuing
despite
the
court
order.
The
White
House
may have
reopened
its
gates to
CNN, MS
NOW and
Politico,
but its
decision
to
bypass
CNN’s
pool
assignment
and
elevate
pro-Trump
outlets
raises a
new
question:
whether
presidential
travel
access
and
shared
pool
coverage
are
being
used to
accomplish
what the
White
House
could
not do
directly
through
a
blanket
ban.
This
Tell Us
USA News
Network
report
is
produced
in part
by Ai
and can
make
mistakes.
Please
contact
and let
us know
of any
errors
you may
find.
info@tellususa.com
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