California Gov. Gavin Newsom accused President Donald Trump of resorting to authoritarian tactics on Monday, saying the president first moved to ban independent journalists from the White House and has now launched what Newsom described as “quite literally state-run TV” to obscure the failures of his administration. The governor’s remarks, posted to X on the evening of September 21, 2026, come hours after the White House unveiled a new 24/7 streaming platform branded “Trump TV,” and just one day after three major news organizations filed suit over their removal from White House press access.
Newsom’s post did not mince words.
“First, Trump banned independent news from the White House,” he wrote. “Now, he’s launching what is quite literally state-run TV to try drowning out the fact that he and his corrupt administration are failing the American people. This is truly autocratic behavior from a failed President.” The post was published at 7:08 p.m. on September 21, 2026.
The Launch Of “Trump TV”
The governor’s post follows the White House’s rollout of a platform it is calling “Trump TV,” which began streaming Monday on the administration’s YouTube channel. According to the channel’s own description, the service promises “top videos, major remarks, and must-see highlights streaming 24/7 and updated in real time.” Its first broadcast was a rebroadcast of Trump’s July 3 address at Mount Rushmore, under a livestream titled “TRUMP TV: The Essentials Station,” followed by footage from Trump’s 2025 inauguration.
It remains unclear whether the platform will stream live, current events or continue to rely on archival footage of past addresses and remarks. The White House has told viewers on the livestream to “stay informed and stay up to date,” though as of Monday evening the channel’s content consisted entirely of previously recorded material.
The Press Ban That Preceded It
The “Trump TV” launch arrived on the heels of Trump’s decision to revoke White House press credentials from reporters with CNN, MS NOW and Politico. Trump announced the ban in a Friday afternoon post, writing that the outlets would be barred “as a result of their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS.” Journalists from the three outlets discovered their access badges had been deactivated when they arrived at the White House grounds on Saturday.
MS NOW reporter Akayla Gardner recounted the moment she was turned away. “The officer asked me to hand over my badge. He said that it was disabled. I asked why I was not able to get inside. He said it was above him,” she said. Reporters from CNN and Politico described similar experiences at the gate.
In response, the White House television pool — which includes CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN and Fox — declined to cover Trump’s public events on Monday, including his meeting with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the unveiling of a new White House helipad, which was ultimately broadcast without audio after no pool boom microphone was made available.
The Outlets Respond With A Lawsuit
CNN, MS NOW and Politico filed suit against the Trump administration on Monday over the ban, arguing the move violates their First Amendment rights. In a joint statement, the outlets said, “Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists’ credentials because it objected to our reporting. Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference.”
Attorney Ted Boutrous, who represented CNN in a similar 2018 case involving correspondent Jim Acosta, is representing the outlets in the new suit. “The President’s ban of CNN, MS NOW and POLITICO from the White House is a direct assault on the First Amendment and a blatant violation of due process,” Boutrous said in a statement Monday. “The President has been explicit that this ban is intended to punish reporting he doesn’t like and to intimidate journalists and news organizations covering him and his administration.”
Trump has defended the ban, denying that he is “instituting an assault” on the press. “The White House is not instituting an assault on the Free Press, something which I cherish. It is instituting an assault on the FAKE NEWS, something that has grown like Cancer,” Trump said. He also told reporters directly, “If they want to write them, that’s fine. I don’t have to let them into the people’s house.”
Newsom’s Broader Pattern Of Criticism
Newsom’s Monday post was not his first reaction to the press ban. Earlier in the controversy, the governor characterized the move as part of a wider pattern of authoritarian conduct from the administration, citing actions including “seizing ballots” and “deploying troops into American cities” as evidence of the same trajectory he says culminated in Monday’s “Trump TV” launch.
Newsom was joined in his criticism by other prominent Democrats. Sen. Bernie Sanders said on X that Trump “is threatening that more news organizations who criticize him, including the New York Times and Washington Post, will be next,” adding, “We will not accept authoritarianism.” Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said press freedom “is a right guaranteed by the First Amendment — not granted at the pleasure of the President.”
The confrontation is the latest chapter in a running feud between Newsom and Trump. During his final State of the State address, Newsom accused the federal government of an “assault on our values” and noted California has filed more than 50 lawsuits against the Trump administration. “The federal government, respectfully, it’s unrecognizable, protecting the powerful at the expense of the vulnerable,” Newsom said at the time.
A Pattern Of Press Restrictions Under Trump
Monday’s dispute is not the first time the Trump administration has been accused of retaliating against journalists over their coverage. In 2025, the administration barred Associated Press journalists from the White House after the outlet declined to adopt Trump’s renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America.” A district judge temporarily lifted that ban before an appeals court largely reinstated it, and the case remains active in court. Trump has separately barred a Wall Street Journal reporter from traveling aboard Air Force One following reporting on the president’s past friendship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
During Trump’s first term, CNN correspondent Jim Acosta had his press credentials revoked after a tense exchange with the president at a news conference. CNN challenged that decision in court, and a judge ordered the White House to reinstate Acosta’s pass — a precedent legal observers say could factor into the current litigation from CNN, MS NOW and Politico.
Critics, including White House Correspondents’ Association President Jacqui Heinrich, have warned that the current ban sets a dangerous precedent. Heinrich said revoking access for journalists violates the First Amendment, cautioning that “a standard used to exclude one news outlet because of its coverage could be applied to any outlet in the future.”
What Comes Next
With CNN, MS NOW and Politico now pursuing legal action and the “Trump TV” platform freshly launched, the dispute over White House press access shows no signs of cooling. Newsom’s Monday statement signals that Democratic leaders intend to frame the episode as part of a broader argument heading into the 2026 midterms about press freedom and executive overreach, while the Trump administration continues to defend both the ban and its new media platform as legitimate responses to what it calls biased coverage. Neither Newsom’s office nor the White House had issued additional public statements on the matter as of Monday evening.