Trump tells CNN ‘you should not be here’ at UN visit

On a day of high-stakes diplomacy on the global stage, US President Donald Trump began his UN visit by telling a prominent US journalist, “You should not be here.”

“It’s an honour to be here,” Trump said as he entered UN doors on Tuesday ahead of his speech to the General Assembly and faced Kaitlan Collins of CNN, a frequent target of his ire. “I’m surprised that CNN is here covering me. You should not be here covering me. You said you weren’t going to cover me.”

As Collins noted later on air, CNN said nothing of the kind. The administration had banned CNN from White House grounds days earlier — along with MS NOW and Politico — and removed the network from pool duty. But CNN had been admitted into the UN as regularly credentialed media.

In any case, the tense moment was a stark reminder of how dramatically the bitter conflict between Trump and news outlets whose coverage he objects to as “fake news” has escalated in just a few days.

The current ban was the subject of a joint lawsuit filed on Monday by the three outlets, calling the decision selective — based on the content of their coverage — and asking a judge to find Trump’s move unconstitutional.

Late on Tuesday, the administration filed a response urging the court to reject the news outlets’ request, saying, “Access to the White House is a privilege — not a right.” The government argued that White House officials can control journalists’ access to “restricted presidential areas”, such as the Oval Office.

“Significantly, presidents have long decided which journalists should receive privileged access, which has varied substantially by administration,” they wrote.

On Tuesday, Trump doubled down on his remarks and said negative coverage was dangerous for the country.

Asked whether he would allow the outlets back in if the court rules against the White House, he said, “Well, it probably will, because this is a judge who’s not a particularly fair judge.” He was referring to US district judge Timothy Kelly, whom he appointed in 2017 and who ordered a CNN journalist’s access restored in a similar case in 2018.

“So you never know,” Trump added. “I think we have a right to clean out fake news.”

Trump’s comments echoed those he’s made since announcing the ban on Friday. He has referred to “purposely negative stories” as justification for the ban.

The ban and lawsuit are part of a long-running conflict between the president — especially in his second term — and media outlets he finds unfavourable. Trump has responded in the courtroom, or with regulatory action. He’s also lashed out at individual reporters in person or over social media, sometimes in strikingly personal terms — as he has with CNN’s Collins, most recently in a speech at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.

On air, after her exchange with Trump on Tuesday, Collins said: “We never said we were not going to cover the president. We will do our best to cover him each and every day.”

Tuesday began with an item missing from the daily press schedule issued by the White House: it did not list the US network pool, a departure from the norm.