President Donald Trump’s Air Force One trip Monday will not have a primary print outlet responsible for sharing updates about his activities — the first time in recent memory that the president will travel without a primary print pool reporter.
The White House has blocked Politico from traveling aboard the president’s plane for his planned trip to Nebraska on Monday, a spokesman for the outlet confirmed in an email. The decision means that Politico will not be able to fulfill its pool duties.
The print pool historically travels everywhere with the president, sending updates to journalists for wire services, newspapers and other publications. The pool is a cost-sharing mechanism: One news organization takes reliable notes on behalf of many news organizations and distributes the information for all to use.
After deciding this weekend to block Politico from riding on Air Force One, White House staffers called numerous outlets to ask one to fill the primary print slot for the out-of-town pool rotation, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share sensitive details. Each of those outlets declined to step in.
This represents the latest flash point between the White House and news media, a tense relationship that escalated last month when Trump banned Politico, along with CNN and MS NOW, from the White House grounds. A federal judge intervened to halt that ban.
The Washington Post, which was among the news organizations that declined to step into Politico’s primary slot, sent a secondary print reporter to travel with the pool — a role it committed to before Politico was barred. The secondary print pooler does not typically send pool reports, but the Post journalist will send out occasional updates, as will a reporter from CBS, the designated representative of the TV networks, as a courtesy to news organizations that rely on these reports.
“Politico was scheduled to be today’s PRINT pooler on the plane, but was blocked from flying AF1 by the administration. The WH was unable to find a replacement,” CBS News producer Josh Gross wrote in a pool report. “The Washington Post is the secondary print pooler and you will see updates from them. As there is no primary print pooler, it’s been agreed that the TV pool notes will be shared simultaneously with the [White House Correspondents’ Association]. Neither news organization is replacing Politico.”
“The White House has blocked today’s print pooler, Politico, from traveling on Air Force One. Since it was unable to find a replacement, there is no primary print pooler on this trip, and I will be sending reports as the secondary pooler,” Post reporter Katherine Doyle wrote to the pool. “TV pool is also sending reports to print poolers simultaneously via WHCA.”
A federal judge halted Trump’s ban of Politico, CNN and MS NOW from the White House after they sued.
But the judge’s decision does not extend beyond the White House grounds, or mention the traveling press pool. The White House late last month blocked CNN from traveling on Air Force One, barring it from its duties to the broadcast pool, a group of outlets dedicated to filming the president. Afterward, the other four members of the rotational TV pool — ABC, CBS, Fox News and NBC — chose not to step in to replace CNN.
“Many outlets including Politico are granted access to attend and cover presidential events unilaterally, but traveling with the President of the United States aboard Air Force One is a privilege not a right,” the White House wrote in a statement. “President Trump is the most accessible President in American history — holding open press events, taking unfiltered questions directly from the media almost every day, and posting directly to his TRUTH Social account — and he will continue to grant an unprecedented level of access to the press.”
News of the White House’s initial decision to block Politico from Air Force One was first reported by CNN.
Politico declined to share a statement beyond confirming the news. A spokeswoman for The Washington Post declined to comment.
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