Womp Womp: CNN Left Off Air Force One, Forced to Report It As ‘Breaking News’

CNN spent Friday night treating its own travel snub as breaking news, with Anderson Cooper and Jim Sciutto slapping “BREAKING NEWS” banners on the White House decision to leave the network off Air Force One for President Trump’s Saturday trip to Knoxville. 

The President is scheduled to attend the Tennessee-Texas football game.

The exclusion comes just hours after a federal judge restored CNN’s access to White House grounds and after the network had resumed pool duty earlier Friday for Trump’s visit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

But they weren't on the list for the "Daily Guidance and Press Schedule" released late Friday night. Instead, the schedule named conservative outlets Real America’s Voice and Lindell TV as the secondary television pool.

CNN framed the move as another attempt to bar journalists from covering the president and as defiance of a decades-old pool system because of coverage the White House dislikes.

Jim Sciutto, who was filling in as host of "The Source with Kaitlan Collins," was practically beside himself.

“As we come on the air tonight, we do have breaking news that once again involves this network," a somber Sciutto announced. "CNN has been told that the White House is, once again, moving to bar our journalists from covering the president as part of the White House television press pool."

The chyron below screamed in all caps, "WHITE HOUSE BARS CNN FROM COVERING TRUMP'S TRAVEL TOMORROW."

At the top of CNN’s ‘The Source,’ fill-in host Jim Sciutto continued with the “breaking news” framing for CNN not being on the travel list for Trump’s visit to Tennessee:

“As we come on the air tonight, we do have breaking news that once again involves this network. CNN has been… pic.twitter.com/g2yVlbdTcD

— Nick (@nspin310) September 26, 2026

"It was just this morning, following a ruling from a federal judge, that CNN was allowed to resume our pool coverage duties. It's a setup designed to document history, and it's been in place for many decades under presidents, both Democratic and Republican," Sciutto continued. "But this president alone appears intent on trashing that tradition because of news coverage he does not like.”

If, by calling it "news coverage he does not like," you mean, "garbage faux journalism masquerading as legitimate news," then yeah, Jim, you nailed it.

And by covering it as "breaking news," usually reserved for major stories of public interest, you're kind of proving the President's point.

Shortly thereafter, Anderson Cooper broke into his segment with a big "BREAKING NEWS" story that essentially echoed the same information. This time, he brought in White House correspondent Alayna Treene to show how super-serious the news was.

Near the end of the channel’s 8PM hour, CNN’s Anderson Cooper announces CNN is not on the travel list for President Trump visiting Tennessee on Saturday. As you would expect, CNN is once again treating the news about itself as breaking news. pic.twitter.com/GOQLbYgaHF

— Nick (@nspin310) September 26, 2026

A report published by Treene and media hall monitor Brian Stelter frames CNN being left off Air Force One for a football game as "State TV" and representing "the Trump administration’s latest salvo against CNN."

Late last week, President Trump announced he was banning CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from White House grounds over what he called "fake news."

Credentials were promptly denied and badges disabled.

"Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America," Trump said at the time.

After a judge temporarily paused the White House ban on the outlets, both MS NOW and CNN skipped coverage of Jinping and his wife's visit.

A state visit from China didn't warrant coverage, but CNN would like you to believe that being skipped over for a college football game is an assault on a free press. Is it any wonder nobody takes this network seriously?

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