WASHINGTON — Sen. Patty Murray, the Washington Democrat who serves as Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Friday that a president with nothing to hide does not ban reporters, and that President Donald Trump, whom she called “historically corrupt,” has “a LOT to hide.” Her remarks came hours after Trump announced he was barring CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, and warned that more outlets would follow. The confrontation puts the commander in chief’s handling of the press at the center of a fight that also involves the Iran war and the Pentagon’s own restrictions on reporters.
Murray posted her response on X at 3:43 p.m. on Sept. 18, 2026. Her post, in its entirety, reads:
“Presidents with nothing to hide don’t ban reporters.
But this President is historically corrupt—so he has a LOT to hide.
Stand up for the Free Press. Every leader should condemn this.”
Trump’s Announcement
Murray was responding directly to a post Trump made on Truth Social at 12:04 p.m. that day. In it, the president wrote:
“I am proud to announce that, effective immediately, I am banning Fake News CNN, MSNOW (who recently changed their name from MSNBC due to lack of viewership and credibility!), and Politico (The recipients of an illegal and ridiculous $8 Million Dollar subscription, an All Time Record, directly from the United States Government, under Crooked Joe Biden, in order to keep them “alive.” Seems like corruption to me!), from the White House as a result of their constant “reporting” FAKE NEWS! 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. Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP”
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said no specific incident had prompted the ban. “It’s really just cumulative stories over the past few years,” he said, according to Reuters. Asked what he meant by other outlets “to follow,” he named The New York Times and The Washington Post as what he called fake news. He also said the outlets “purposely write negative news.”
Representatives of all three outlets could be seen working inside the White House on Friday afternoon after the post went up, Reuters reported. Fox News, citing an unnamed senior White House official, reported that the White House was telling the three outlets they would be barred from the grounds beginning Saturday. The full extent of the ban was not immediately clear, and its legality could depend on its scope. Courts have given presidents broad discretion over selective access to events such as Oval Office meetings and small press pools. Broader exclusions from generally available press facilities or credentials could face stronger challenges under the First Amendment and due process protections.
Outlets and Legal Experts Push Back
CNN said it stands behind its White House journalists and has a constitutional right to report without government interference. It described the threatened ban as an illegal assault on that right. Politico said on X that it would continue to fairly report on this White House and future ones and would vigorously defend its First Amendment rights. MS NOW said it will keep covering the administration and intends to take whatever steps are necessary to defend its First Amendment rights and independent journalism.
Press freedom advocates were sharply critical. Seth Stern, chief of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, said it is difficult to imagine a more blatant First Amendment violation than banning outlets from the White House for criticizing the government. Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said the press pool is a “public forum” under the First Amendment. In his view, that means a president cannot exclude journalists from it because of their viewpoints, and expelling these outlets would be “doubly unconstitutional.”
A Pattern of Restricting Press Access
Friday’s announcement follows a series of earlier clashes. In February 2025, the White House kept Associated Press journalists out of the Oval Office, Air Force One and other events too small for a full press corps, in retaliation for the outlet’s refusal to follow Trump’s change to the Gulf of Mexico’s name. During his first term, Reuters reported, the White House tried to revoke or suspend the credentials of CNN’s Jim Acosta and Playboy correspondent Brian Karem, but federal judges ordered their passes restored. Trump has also sued several news organizations, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, the BBC and the Des Moines Register. His defamation suits against ABC and CBS were settled for $15 million and $16 million, respectively.
The Pentagon has moved in a similar direction. A 17-page memo distributed Sept. 19, 2025, required credentialed journalists at the department to pledge not to report information that had not been authorized for release, including unclassified information. Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, and 14 Senate colleagues have since introduced the Protecting Pentagon Press Act, which would restore access that reporters had before the 2025 restrictions. Coons said the First Amendment and a free press become more important in wartime, not less.
Murray’s Record on Press Freedom and Trump
Murray has taken this position before. In August 2018, she joined Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, in introducing a resolution condemning the White House’s attempts to restrict media access after the administration barred CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins from a press event. Murray said then that restricting media access “will never be acceptable in a free and fair society.” The resolution also condemned Trump’s repeated description of reputable news organizations as “fake news.”
Her language about Trump’s conduct in office has also been consistent. Ahead of Trump’s State of the Union address, Murray wrote on X that he is “easily the most corrupt President in American history,” and said she would not attend the speech. In a statement on the stopgap spending bill that funds the government through Dec. 11, she said Democrats would keep fighting to “rein in Trump’s corruption.”
The Iran War and Oversight of the Commander in Chief
Much of Murray’s opposition to Trump has centered on military policy. In a Senate floor speech early in the Iran conflict, she said Trump had broken his promises of lower prices and no new wars, and urged Congress to vote to end the war. She later said she had voted for a War Powers Resolution to end the conflict for the fourth time, calling the war reckless and illegal. Her position has been that only Congress can authorize war and that the administration has offered no strategy or endgame.
Murray has also pressed the administration’s national security leadership directly at Appropriations Committee hearings. She asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio whether he had advised Trump to go to war with Iran, and questioned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on the war’s cost and on the president’s $1.5 trillion defense budget request. She also criticized Trump’s request for $87.6 billion in supplemental funding for the Iran war and other Pentagon priorities, saying the administration had not answered basic questions about the war’s aims, justification and cost.
The Political Backdrop
The ban comes weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, in which Republicans are defending narrow majorities in Congress. Reuters/Ipsos polling shows the public souring on Republicans, and Trump’s approval ratings stand near historic lows amid the Iran war, which Reuters described as deeply unpopular and blamed for sending energy prices soaring. Reuters also noted that the administration has cut back access for many major news organizations while elevating new media outlets seen as more sympathetic to it.
Murray’s post leaves the response to others. Her closing line, “Every leader should condemn this,” is addressed to lawmakers and officials beyond her own party. Under Trump’s announcement, the three outlets were to be barred from the White House grounds starting Saturday, with the president saying more outlets would follow.