White House leaves CNN off Air Force One press pool for Trump trip

The White House has signalled that CNN would be left off Air Force One for Donald Trump's upcoming trip, in the latest media restriction from the administration.

The news organisation was replaced by Real America's Voice, a conservative network, for the US president's trip to Knoxville, Tennessee, according to White House guidance.

Mr Trump is scheduled to attend a college football game between the University of Tennessee and the University of Texas at midday Saturday, local time.

The news came just after journalists from CNN, along with MS NOW and Politico — which Mr Trump banned last week from the White House grounds — returned to the executive complex with TV cameras in hand after a judge handed the organisations a reprieve.

US District Judge Timothy Kelly temporarily struck down the ban in an overnight ruling early Thursday, saying it was likely unconstitutional.

Judge Kelly issued his order in a lawsuit that the news organisations filed contesting the ban, which argued it violated the US Constitution's First Amendment protections for free speech and a free press.

The judge's decision addressed "hard passes" to the White House grounds but did not directly address pool duties nor Air Force One.

Theodore Boutrous Jr, the news outlets' attorney, did not immediately respond to The Associated Press' requests for comment.

Earlier Friday, on "The Lead with Jake Tapper," Mr Boutrous had said the plaintiffs believed the recent court ruling also covered the issue of pool access.

The White House did not immediately respond to an AP email requesting additional details on the decision.

For a while during the day, the US network video pool for the White House was back in operation for the first time since Mr Trump banned the three news outlets in an extraordinary showdown over media access.

At noon on CNN, viewers could see Mr Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping touring the National Archives, along with Melania Trump and Peng Liyuan, Xi's wife.

It was a routine report from a state visit — except that CNN had not aired live video of Mr Trump in several days.

The pool consists of five major US broadcast outlets that take turns shooting and sharing video.

When the White House banned CNN — which belongs to the pool — from White House grounds, along with MS NOW and Politico, the other four pool providers declined to participate in a show of solidarity.

The spot meant for CNN on the Air Force One flight has long been saved for a member of the US network video pool, which Real America's Voice is not a part of.

CNN did not comment directly earlier Friday, referring instead to its editorial coverage.

But Brian Stelter, the network's media analyst, posted on X that CNN had a pool assignment at the National Archives event and that the White House had approved the network's credentials.

Throughout his second term, Mr Trump has increasingly targeted media outlets whose coverage irritates him, taking administrative or legal action against several.

Early last year, he banished AP reporters from White House events because the organisation was not abiding by his executive order changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America".

The AP's guidance says to acknowledge the new name when relevant.

The case is on appeal after a federal district judge ruled in AP's favour.

The press pool was created decades ago by the White House Correspondents' Association, a group of journalists who cover the president, to make sure a rotating roster always travels with the president.

The pool distributes in-person reports and imagery to the broader press corps and is designed to hold the nation's chief executive accountable on behalf of the American public.