Vice President JD Vance pushed back against accusations that President Donald Trump banning three media outlets, Politico, CNN, and MS Now, from the White House is a violation of free speech.
“So he’s not banning media outlets,” Vance told reporters Monday morning as he heads to North Carolina to campaign with Republican Senate nominee Michael Whatley. “What he’s doing is saying we’re not going to give you special access to the White House if you engage in what is effectively propaganda.”
“We have to remember those three outlets account about 92% of the stories that they have on the president of the United States on the administration are negative,” Vance claimed. “That’s not representative of the American people. It’s not representative of public opinion. So if you’re going to engage in what is effectively far-left propaganda, why would a Republican White House give you special access?”
Trump first announced that he was banning the three outlets on Friday, to the surprise of the White House press corps and some administration officials. MS Now, CNN, and Politico then announced on Saturday that their reporters were denied access to the White House grounds. The outlets announced a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Monday, claiming that Trump’s actions violated the Constitution.
Vance disagreed with the premise that Trump’s actions were an attack on the First Amendment.
“They can still report on the Trump White House,” he said. “They can still get the public reports. They can still, of course, talk to people in the administration and outside the administration. If you actually look at the objective analysis … Politico is as anti-Trump as Breitbart was anti-Obama or anti-Biden.
“Now, why on God’s green earth would Donald Trump be expected to give Politico special access when nobody in the media expected the Biden administration or the Obama administration to give Breitbart special access?” Vance asked. “It’s about basic fairness. They can still report. They still have the access to free speech. They’re just not going to get an office in the White House anymore.”
Trump also defended his actions in a Truth Social post Monday morning.
“The White House is not instituting an assault on the Free Press, something which I cherish,” he wrote. “It is instituting an assault on the FAKE NEWS, something that has grown like Cancer in our beloved United States of America. It is corrupt, purposeful, pervasive, fully coordinated, and totally out of control. It is a threat to our National Security, and must be stopped, NOW!”
WHITE HOUSE TV POOL ANNOUNCES BOYCOTT IN SOLIDARITY WITH BANNED OUTLETS
A coalition of the major networks said they will boycott covering Trump’s trip this week to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly in solidarity with CNN after it was removed as part of the travel pool for the occasion.
“The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government,” the statement by ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox News reads. “No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting.”