Andrew Feinberg was dropped from Thursday’s trip to Iowa a day after President Trump berated him in the Oval Office. The move comes as a federal judge has ordered press passes restored to other outlets and CNN threatens further legal action.
The White House has removed The Independent’s White House correspondent, Andrew Feinberg, from the travelling press pool for President Donald Trump’s campaign trip to Iowa on Thursday 22 October. The Press Office told him on Wednesday evening that he would “not be the print pooler on tomorrow’s trip”, although his place in the rotation had been confirmed days earlier. The message ended: “Thank you for your understanding.” The notice came one day after Mr Trump criticised him sharply in the Oval Office.
The Oval Office exchange
According to the account in The Independent, Mr Trump told Mr Feinberg to “be careful” and prevented him from asking questions. He called him a “sick person” and said: “I actually think there’s something wrong with you.” Vice President JD Vance used his official government X account to call him an “imbecile”, and an official White House rapid response account on X also used an offensive term about him.
Mr Feinberg’s own account, set out in the research notes, says Mr Trump and Mr Vance were unveiling a scheme to reward people who provide information about alleged government fraud, with a proposed whistleblower reward of up to $30,000. He said he had prepared questions on several subjects and tried to put them to the president. The administration disputed the way he questioned, while Mr Feinberg said he was carrying out his journalistic duties. It was an event about a government initiative and not a press conference on media access.
A pattern of exclusions
The Independent is at least the third outlet removed from Air Force One in recent weeks, according to the source. It follows Mr Trump’s growing threats to media access and a lawsuit seeking a court’s intervention to reverse what he has called a “ban” on three other outlets.
On 13 October, US District Judge Timothy Kelly, who was appointed by Mr Trump, issued a 26-page preliminary injunction requiring the White House to restore general press access for CNN, MS NOW and Politico. He found the outlets had shown they were likely to succeed in claims that their exclusion violated the First and Fifth Amendments. The ruling concerns access to White House grounds and credentials and does not automatically settle every dispute over Air Force One or the Oval Office. There has been no final judgment.
Reporters from CNN and Politico have nonetheless continued to be barred from Air Force One on days when their outlets were due to provide out-of-town print or television coverage. Administration officials have tried to separate the removal of individual outlets and reporters from the White House, which the judge rejected, from pool coverage on Air Force One. The White House argues that access to the plane and the Oval Office involves separate security and operational considerations, and that journalists have no automatic constitutional right to enter sensitive presidential facilities. The news organisations say those considerations cannot be used as a pretext to punish unfavourable reporting. The research notes say the courts have not settled that broader question, and that the lawsuit refers to Sherrill v. Knight, a 1977 appeals court ruling on denial of a White House press pass.
CNN’s deadline and the Politico demand
According to TheWrap, CNN’s lawyer, Theodore Boutrous, has sent the Department of Justice a formal demand. CNN says it has been prevented from carrying out its scheduled pool duties on at least four occasions. It wants written confirmation by 5pm Eastern Time on Thursday that the restrictions will end, or it will return to federal court. No new filing had been confirmed as of Wednesday.
Axios reports that White House Counsel Will Scharf has also sent Politico a letter giving it 48 hours to retract or correct three articles about chief of staff Susie Wiles. The administration disputes reports that Mr Trump had considered replacing her, that reports of her possible departure caused a major confrontation inside the White House, and that she was involved in a damaging television appearance by a former press secretary. The letter reportedly asked for corrections and public apologies. A White House official said responses were under consideration, and no penalty has been announced. There is no evidence that this and Mr Feinberg’s removal were formally co-ordinated.
The effect on the pool
The pool reporter files observations that are shared with outlets that cannot attend. When Politico was barred from a trip to Nebraska on 5 October, CNN reported that the White House tried to find another publication to take its place and found none, so the trip went ahead without its designated print reporter. CNN says its exclusion has also disrupted the television pool, which rotates among ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC, with other networks deciding individually whether to cover for it.
