White House strips CNN of TV pool assignment as Trump’s press ban escalates

The major television networks are standing with CNN by declining to replace its White House pool crew after the Trump administration barred the network from fulfilling its assigned duties on Monday. “The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting,” ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC said in a rare joint statement. The decision means the shared TV pool will not cover President Donald Trump’s events designated for pool coverage, according to an email Monday from Bryan Boughton, the Fox News Washington bureau chief who currently chairs the pool. “This follows the White House’s position preventing CNN from fulfilling its assigned pool duties,” Boughton wrote to other pool subscribers.