President Donald Trump went after CNN ahead of his speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday morning.
The president briefly spoke to the press upon his arrival at the forum and shot down a question from CNN regarding the public’s negative view of the war in Iran. Last week, the president banned the television network, alongside MS Now and Politico, from the White House grounds.
“It’s an honor to be here. I’m surprised CNN is covering me,” Trump responded. “You should not be here covering me. You said you weren’t going to cover me.”
As for the war itself, Trump insisted that “we’re making a lot of progress.”
The big story coming out of Trump’s last General Assembly speech was a malfunctioning escalator that left him temporarily stranded while switching floors at the U.N. headquarters in New York. Following the exchange this year, the president again took the escalator, with one passerby joking that he should “be careful with the stairs,” according to reporters at the scene.
CNN, MS Now, and Politico responded to the president’s ban by filing a joint lawsuit against the administration on Monday, alleging violations of due process and the First Amendment.
TRUMP DROWNED OUT BY BACKGROUND NOISE IN HIS FIRST REMARKS WITHOUT PRESS POOL
The television pool, comprising CNN, ABC, CBS, Fox News, and NBC News, additionally announced it would refrain from covering his events until the ban is lifted, leaving the White House without access to the more sophisticated audio equipment used by the broadcast teams to capture the president’s comments.
That dynamic left Trump’s Monday comments at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new White House helipad, his first public remarks since the television pool announced its boycott, completely washed out by an idling Marine One.