Attorney General Todd Blanche said Sunday that reporting from CNN and other news organizations can become a “national security issue” when the coverage is inaccurate or one-sided.
The assertion came during a contentious interview with ABC News anchor Martha Raddatz about President Trump’s decision to revoke the White House credentials of CNN, Politico and MS NOW.
“Being in the White House is a privilege. It’s not a — it’s not a right,” Blanche said.
Raddatz pointed out that CNN was barred from Air Force One on a day when it was scheduled to provide television coverage for the White House press pool.
“CNN was the pool that day,” she said. “They were denied entry to Air Force One.”
Blanche replied: “The president has every right to decide who gets to fly on his plane, and it is national security, especially on Air Force One, and especially at the White House.”
.@AGToddBlanche: President Trump “is sick and tired of certain media outlets just refusing to report accurate news… Being in the White House is a privilege; it’s not a right.” pic.twitter.com/f5Y1oAAMuS
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) September 27, 2026
Raddatz then read from last week’s order by U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, who restored the three outlets’ credentials for 14 days while their lawsuit against the administration moves forward.
“For one thing, nothing in the record that predates this suit suggests that the revocation of Plaintiffs’ hard passes was motivated by national security concerns,” Kelly wrote.
The Trump-appointed judge added that when Trump announced the ban, he focused on “the alleged lack of truthfulness and negativity” of the outlets’ reporting—not national security.
“Give us an example,” Raddatz said to Blanche.
“Give you an example of when CNN doesn’t report accurately?” he replied. “You cannot be asking me that.”
Blanche continued: “There’s not even a real dispute that the information coming out of CNN and some of these other networks is wholly and completely almost—almost 100 percent—”
“The judge decided this was not based on national security,” Raddatz interjected.
Blanche said Kelly had issued a temporary order, not a final decision, and declined to discuss the ruling further.
“At some point, the complete misinformation and the inaccuracy and the one-sided news out of certain organizations does become a national security issue,” he said.