President Donald Trump struggled to explain his new ban on the American “free press” as he answered questions from reporters.
“We’re repressive” too, like China, he conceded to reporters after he announced Friday on Truth Social that “Fake News” CNN, MS NOW and Politico are now barred—“effective immediately”—from the White House, and warned that other media outlets could soon be next. Trump later appeared to walk that back.
But the 80-year-old president appeared to lose his train of thought when reporters pressed him on the ban later in the Oval Office. When a reporter asked about Chinese President Xi Jinping’s upcoming visit and noted that China is one of the most repressive countries in the world for journalists, Trump interrupted.
“I don’t know about that. I think we’re repressive also,” he said. He then appeared to reverse course: “We get fake news. We don’t repress, but they write fake news.”
When the president was asked exactly what the ban entails—if reporters will lose their press badges or be barred from the traveling press pool or the Oval Office—a suddenly stumped Trump looked around quizzically, saying, “I still don’t know?”
Then: “Oh, the ban on the free press? Right? It will be a very simple ban. I don’t want them in my office. I don’t want them here.”
In February 2025, just a few weeks after his second inauguration, Trump barred Associated Press journalists from the Oval Office, Air Force One, and other events. The move came in retaliation for the AP’s decision not to follow his directive to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” in its coverage. AP sued, and the case remains ongoing.
The press ban muddle was one of several confusing points Trump tried to clarify for journalists as he rambled far afield while answering questions.
The president also noted he would “demand” children get a maximum of only five vaccinations at a time. Last month, he claimed American children now get such massive vaccine doses in a single injection that syringes are as large as a “bottle of soda,” which is not true.
