Mayor Zohran Mamdani made sure the press was allowed to cover his event with President Donald Trump on Monday, despite the White House’s ban on select outlets.
The New York City mayor and the president appeared together at Gracie Mansion on Monday to discuss affordable housing, infrastructure, public safety and immigration, advancing a plan for a new neighborhood above Queens.
During the press conference, a reporter asked Mamdani point-blank how he responded to Trump banning certain outlets from the White House grounds and whether he challenged him on it.
“I told the president we would have all the members of the press here on the lawn and that is something that I believe in,” Mamdani replied.
The reporter also pressed Trump on his decision, which she said has been characterized as “textbook authoritarianism,” specifically asking if he was banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico to distract from the Iran War and high gas prices.
“It’s interesting because they said they were going to boycott me, but they never boycott me, so I wasn’t very worried about that,” Trump said.
“I’m only doing it [the press ban] because I think the press also has an obligation,” he said. “I never get anything positive. It’s always negative.”
Trump went on to spout points that he won his election in a landslide and that the country had “the best economic models in the history of our country.”
Q: What is your response to President Trump banning outlets from the White House grounds, did you challenge him about this? Mamdani: I told the president we would have all the members of the press here on the lawn and that is something that I believe in……
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 21, 2026
Trump announced that CNN, MS NOW and Politico were banned from the White House “effective immediately” on Friday, accusing the organizations of inaccurate reporting. The ban was enforced Saturday, when journalists from the three organizations were denied access to the White House grounds.
The five major television networks that make up the White House TV pool suspended pooled television coverage of Trump on Monday after the White House prevented CNN from fulfilling its scheduled duties.
“The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting,” Fox News Media, ABC News, CBS News, CNN and NBC News said in a joint statement provided to TheWrap.
ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC News make up the pool, and they rotate responsibility for providing pooled television coverage of the president, including during travel and events where space prevents every news organization from sending its own camera crew. The designated network provides video and audio that is shared with the other networks and distributed more broadly to news organizations in the U.S. and around the world.
CNN, MS NOW and Politico sued the Trump administration Monday, arguing that their exclusion from the White House in response to their reporting violates the First Amendment and that their credentials were revoked without due process. The organizations are seeking a temporary restraining order restoring their access.
The post Mamdani Told Trump They’re Letting Banned White House Reporters Attend Their Press Conference: ‘Something I Believe In’ appeared first on TheWrap.
