CNN Does Not Air Trump’s U.N. Speech After White House Ban

MARCO GONCALVES / Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images CNN dealt a fresh blow to President Donald Trump amid a heated standoff over news coverage.

The network did not air the ratings-obsessed president’s Tuesday speech addressing the United Nations General Assembly in New York City after Trump banned CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House last week in a fit of rage over unfavorable coverage.

Trump, 80, briefly disappeared from the airwaves after major TV networks put on a rare show of solidarity and refused to cover events designated by the White House as “pool coverage,” meaning one network is tasked with attending an event and later distributing information and media, like video footage, to other news outlets.

The president returned to Americans’ television screens on Tuesday thanks to a feed from the United Nations’ in-house station.

But CNN notably decided not to carry the feed.

Trump appeared surprised—and infuriated—to see CNN’s star White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins at the United Nations headquarters.

“It’s an honor to be here.

I’m surprised that CNN is here covering me.

You shouldn’t be here,” he said.

You should not be here covering me.

You said you weren’t gonna cover me, you shouldn’t be covering me.” “But I will tell you, it is an honor to be at the United Nations and we’re making a lot of progress,” the president pivoted.

“Our country is doing really, really well.” Collins later clapped back with an explanation of how CNN managed to cover the U.N. despite getting its White House credentials snatched away.

“The president came in, he briefly came over to speak to the reporters—who, I should note, are here because we are credentialed by the United Nations while being blocked by the White House from covering the president,” she said.

A network executive told the Daily Beast that CNN has always been clear that it will continue to cover Trump.