White House again blocks CNN, MS NOW from covering Xi's state dinner despite court order
Hours after Trump lifted a ban was overridden by a judge, aides shut CNN and MS NOW reporters out of Xi Jinping's state dinner arrival.
Part of a larger narrative
Trump White House Press Ban
- White House again blocks CNN, MS NOW from covering Xi's state dinner despite court orderyou are here
- Trump bars CNN, Politico, MS NOW from White House after aide shows him critical clips
- Trump calls media a 'cancer' and national security threat; three outlets sue
- Obama calls Trump's White House press ban on CNN, MS Now, Politico 'unimaginable'
- Trump directs OMB's Vought to draft order centralizing NIH grant control
What to know
- A federal judge's same-day order to restore CNN, MS NOW and Politico's White House access was defied hours later when the two networks were blocked from covering Xi Jinping's state dinner arrival.
- The dispute stems from Trump's move roughly a week earlier to ban the outlets over coverage he called inaccurate, which triggered a First Amendment lawsuit and a press-pool boycott.
- White House staff reportedly offered CNN limited coverage (photojournalist and audio technician only) while allowing other networks full reporter and producer access.
- Open question raised by reporters on the ground: whether the exclusions will continue at future daily White House events despite the court ruling.
“The big question is — is this going to continue? Are we not going to be credentialed into these daily events?”
Laura Barrón-López, MS NOW White House reporter · MS NOW / The Independent ↗ · Sep 23
Donald Trump U.S. President
Xi Jinping President of ChinaLaura Barrón-López MS NOW White House reporter
Erin Burnett CNN anchor, 'OutFront'Timothy Kelly U.S. District JudgeSteven Cheung White House communications director
How it unfolded 5 developments, newest first · click a bar or a number to jump articlesvideospostscomments
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CNN confirms the block, ties it to defied court ruling
CNN and other outlets publicly noted the exclusion came directly after a federal judge had ordered the administration to restore their access.
“CNN denied access moments ago to cover the guest arrivals of President Trump’s state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping, blocked after a judge shot down Trump’s ban to keep CNN, Politico and MS NOW out of the White House grounds.”
— Erin Burnett -
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The outlets had their White House press credentials removed last week, though a judge lifted the ban against them Thursday.
2 more of the top 3 · 103 posts in this stretch
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# CNN # WhiteHouse reporters denied access to # Xi # StateDinner arrival [waaay after whatever BS hour they told the # court ] The White House Thurs denied 2 CNN # journalists from covering the leader of # China ’s arrival back at # Trump ’s White House for a state dinner, after trying to tell the # network which “type” of journalists could cover…
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The White House said it had reinstated journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico after a federal judge deemed President Trump's ban on the three news outlets' reporters likely unconstitutional and ordered their access immediately restored
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Barrón-López and Burnett report the fresh block on air
MS NOW's Laura Barrón-López and CNN's Erin Burnett described being turned away and referred to White House communications director Steven Cheung, calling the event one they would normally cover routinely.
“I was told, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t let you in.’…”
— Laura Barrón-López -
Burnett: CNN was denied access moments ago to cover the guest arrivals of President Trump's state dinner for Chinese President XI.
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This is a Constitutional crisis. Trump ignores judge's orders.
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CNN Says It Was Denied Trump White House Access To Cover Arrivals At State Dinner For Chinese President Xi Jinping https:// deadline.com/2026/09/trump-sta te-dinner-cnn-coverage-1237113326/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub Posted into Business @ business-Deadline
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White House blocks CNN, MS NOW from Xi's state dinner arrival
Despite the judge's order restoring access, a press wrangler stopped CNN and MS NOW reporters and producers from entering the greeting ceremony for Trump, Melania, Xi and Peng Liyuan at the North Portico.
“MS NOW and CNN journalists have just been denied access to covering Xi Jinping's arrival back at the White House for tonight's state dinner.”
— @kylegriffin1.bsky.social -
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BREAKING on MS NOW: MS NOW and CNN journalists have just been denied access to covering Xi Jinping's arrival back at the White House for tonight's state dinner.
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I am so tired of them allowing him to break law after law after law, taking away rights and more rights and more rights. Most of all I’m tired of no one, noticing that this is no longer a democracy.
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So much for a court order. The law and order president 🖕
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Trump rages that CNN, MS NOW 'refused' to cover Xi's arrival
Trump attacked the two networks on Truth Social for skipping Xi Jinping's morning arrival at the White House, accusing them of ignoring the event out of bias against him.
“The event was magnificent — Actually made for Television but, because they’re Fake News, and because they knew how good it would be, they didn’t want credit to be given to ‘TRUMP,’ they refused to be there. That’s why they have such poor Ratings…”
— Donald Trump -
first by Independent UK, 12h ago · also The Independent
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Judge Kelly orders White House to restore outlets' access
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly granted a temporary restraining order requiring the administration to reinstate CNN, MS NOW and Politico's credentials, finding no support for claims the disputed reporting harmed national security.
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first by Forbes Business, 11h ago · also The Wrap, Euronews, NPR Business, Forbes
3 more headlines
- CNN and MS NOW Blocked From White House Coverage of Xi Jinping Welcome Despite Lifted Ban The Wrap · 11h ago
- CNN, MS NOW, Politico return to White House after court order to lift ban Euronews · 7h ago
- CNN, MS NOW and Politico return to the White House after judge's ruling NPR Business · 2h ago
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first by Japan Times, 8h ago
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Journalists, advocates demand Ellison condemn White House ban, back lawsuit FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: New York, Sept. 21, 2026 — A coalition of over 100 leading journalists, rights organizations, academics, and advocates sent a letter today demanding that Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison publicly condemn President Donald Trump’s unconstitutional…
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background
Trump bans CNN, MS NOW and Politico from White House access — Trump ordered the outlets' credentials revoked over what he called unfavorable and inaccurate coverage of him and his administration.
Also covered reported alongside — the timeline has no entry for these yet
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first by The Wrap, 10h ago · also Deadline
1 more headline
and 2 smaller pieces
What people are saying 14 voices from 3 sites · best of 141 · verbatim
- Today
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Trump bans the press, so they cannot cover Xi at the White House, then posts online that CNN has refused to cover the event, describing himself as the victim of his own ban. Erin Burnett has the story: https:// youtu.be/JxZz9ifYf4s?si=sWVpn4 6B0rG1Q2MJ
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CNN and MS NOW say reporters blocked from Xi state dinner arrival, hours after regaining White House access Journalists from CNN and MS NOW were denied access to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state dinner arrival on… # UnitedStates # US # USA # administration # DonaldTrump # newsorganizations # Politico # POTUS # presidentdonaldtrump #…
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Paramount’s David Ellison Attends Trump White House State Dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping; CNN and MS NOW Reporters Barred From Event https://www. inbella.com/1724189/paramounts -david-ellison-attends-trump-white-house-state-dinner-for-chinese-president-xi-jinping-cnn-and-ms-now-reporters-barred-from-event/ # Entertainment
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CNN, MS NOW White House reporters denied access to Xi’s state dinner arrival The administration’s lawyers have been arguing in court that President Donald Trump’s attempt to ban media members isn’t… # UnitedStates # US # USA # america # unitedstatesofamerica # USnews # USTopics # USAnews
- Yesterday
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CNN and MS Now journalists denied access to White House state dinner despite court ruling https://www. theguardian.com/us-news/2026/s ep/24/judge-orders-trump-restore-white-house-access-cnn-ms-now-politico-media-ban # WhiteHouse # Journalism
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ALL MEDIA and I mean ALL FORMS OF NEWS MEDIA need to just stop covering him at all. No print, video, audio or photos. No on air mention of his name. His kryptonite is attention. His obvious end goal he has achieved. EPSTEIN DISTRACTION. “Look, a rabbit“ works every time.
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Trump's state dinner for Xi will not be televised as White House continues to deny CNN full access Donald Trump just welcomed Xi Jinping back to the White House for a state dinner in honor of the Chinese leader that will not be televised because the White House continued to deny full access to the event to CNN journalists on Thursday, despite a…
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No, we notice and we're tired and outraged too.
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🇺🇸🇨🇳 CNN says it was blocked from covering Xi Jinping’s state dinner arrivals at the White House, even after a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to restore access to CNN, MS NOW and Politico. Trump then complained that CNN and MS NOW “refused” to cover Xi’s arrival
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CNN denied access to arrivals for White House state dinner https://www. cnn.com/2026/09/24/us/video/eb of-kristen-holmes-denied-access-white-house-state-dinner-xi-jinping?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub Posted into US News @ us-news-CNN
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MS NOW and CNN journalists denied access to covering Xi Jinping's arrival back at the WH for tonight's state dinner. What an embarrassment to our country.
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I would love to see arrests start happening. Hold them in Contempt of Court then arrest whomever is following illegal orders.
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maybe instead of trying to get included in WH ceremonial crap they should go do some journalism and uncover the 50 billion crimes they have done
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What's it going to take to make this fascist regime follow the law?