Politico barred from Trump’s Air Force One trip as White House press-access fight deepens

The White House blocked Politico from Trump’s Air Force One trip to Nebraska, leaving the presidential travel pool without a primary print reporter.

President Donald Trump’s trip to Nebraska on Monday unfolded without the usual primary print reporter aboard Air Force One after the White House prevented Politico from taking its assigned place in the presidential travel pool.

Politico had been scheduled to serve as the out-of-town print pool reporter, a rotating role in which one journalist travels with the president and shares reports with the broader White House press corps. When the administration barred the outlet from the flight, it was unable to secure another organization to take the seat.

Washington Post reporter Katherine Doyle, who was assigned as the secondary print pooler, documented the unusual arrangement in a pool report. She said she would provide coverage alongside the television pool, leaving the trip without a designated primary print representative.

The Washington Post reported that the episode marks the first time in recent memory that a president has traveled without a primary print pool reporter. The development comes amid a broader dispute between the Trump administration and several news organizations over access to the president.

The administration has argued that traveling aboard Air Force One is different from ordinary White House access. A White House official told NBC News that access to Air Force One is a privilege rather than a right, even though outlets such as Politico are routinely assigned to presidential travel pools.

That position has become particularly significant because Politico, CNN and MS NOW recently won a temporary court order restoring their White House press credentials after Trump’s administration barred them from the complex.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly found that the outlets were likely to succeed in arguing that their credentials had been revoked without constitutionally adequate due process.

The ruling, however, did not expressly resolve whether those restored credentials guaranteed participation in restricted presidential settings such as Air Force One. The administration has maintained a distinction between access to the White House grounds and access to limited-capacity events and presidential travel.

Monday’s dispute therefore adds another issue to an already active legal battle over presidential press access. A federal hearing scheduled for Thursday is expected to address the news organizations’ request for broader protection while their challenge continues.

Trump’s Nebraska appearance itself was part of his campaign activity ahead of the midterm elections. The unusual press arrangement, however, put the focus on a different question, how far presidential control over limited-access spaces can extend while courts weigh the administration’s broader restrictions on journalists.