United Nations Ambassador Mike Waltz sat for an interview on CNN's "State of the Union" with Jake Tapper on Sunday.
There was a moment that was just flat-out funny when Tapper basically begged Waltz to ask Trump to let CNN back into the press pool.
🚨 LMAO!! CNN's Jake Tapper just BEGGED Ambassador Mike Waltz on national TV to ask President Trump to "let CNN back in the pool" for Air Force One and event coverage
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) September 27, 2026
"Yesterday, the White House barred CNN from pool...I'd ask if you can convey to President Trump to let CNN back… pic.twitter.com/d5NcMf1zPx
"Before you go, sir, I just want to note, yesterday, the White House barred CNN from fulfilling our pool assignment on behalf of the five major television networks. As you know, we all pool coverage, and all of our affiliates and subscribers.
"And I would just ask if you could please convey to President Trump to let CNN back in the pool. It was not OK when President Obama tried to freeze FOX out of the pool back in 2009. And I don't think we want a world where presidents decide who gets to cover them."
As we noted, CNN falsely told its audience no one was covering the pool responsibilities when, in fact, Real America's Voice (RAV) was doing it. CNN found out they didn't matter, and they're still sore about it.
Waltz just took Tapper apart.
"Well, I hear you, Jake, but I think we need fair, and objective, and well-sourced reporting.
"And I could tell you, as having been the victim of a lot of this nonsense, my family members, and so many others, we need a free and fair and honest press corps without an agenda that tries to take facts to fit a narrative.
"And whether that is Biden's inability and many issues that he had that was whitewashed, and then people came back around with corrections. Or other issues. So that's a much longer conversation. And President Trump's frustrated."
That's a brilliant, subtle cut at Tapper for coming out with his book about Biden's cognitive issues after Biden was no longer occupying the Oval Office.
Waltz continued, making the point that it wasn't about negative coverage per se, but about fair and objective coverage
"And, by the way, there are over what, 50 seats in the press room. I don't think all of them, like Washington Post or New York Times, are exactly positive towards this administration. So that's a false narrative that it's about negative reporting. We need fair and objective reporting for the country.
"And that's President Trump's point."
Tapper's response revealed he didn't know the difference between negative bias as a policy vs. negative while being objective.
Waltz's response is great because he pointed out how the other media is not being blocked, so it wasn't a block on negative media in general. Waltz even referenced "a story where anonymous sources were referring to a now-dead senator."
Tapper said every president has been frustrated with the media. That's true.
Yet, not every president has had to face the incessant false attacks that Trump has. Barack Obama and Joe Biden got continuous passes from the media for things that should have been reported negatively because the liberal media largely agreed with them.
So, hat tip to Waltz for driving the point home.
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