Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) accused President Donald Trump of pursuing authoritarianism on Saturday. The charge came hours after reporters from CNN, MS NOW and Politico were turned away at the gates of the White House, and Sanders used a post on X to tell his followers that “We will not accept authoritarianism.” He posted at 1:29 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. His message framed the media ban as an attack on the First Amendment by a commander in chief who, in his words, wants to control what the public is allowed to know.
Sanders’ Full Post
Sanders’ post read in its entirety:
“Trump has now banned CNN, MS NOW and POLITICO from entering the White House grounds.
That’s not all. He is threatening that more news organizations who criticize him, including the New York Times and Washington Post, will be next.
Why? Because when demagogues like Trump are in trouble they want to control the flow of information and silence media that might hold them accountable.
We will not allow Trump to undermine the First Amendment, the Constitution and our democracy.
We will not accept authoritarianism.
Fight back.”
— 1:29 PM · Sep 19, 2026
The post made three separate claims. It said the ban was already in effect, that it was only the start of a wider campaign against critical outlets, and that the motive was political self-protection. Sanders named the New York Times and the Washington Post as the next targets, and he ended with a direct call to action.
Friday: Trump Announces the Ban
The controversy began Friday, Sept. 18. Reuters reported that Trump announced the ban in a social media post accusing the three outlets of “reporting FAKE NEWS.” He said they should not be allowed to keep producing “FICTION and LIES” while covering the president, and he added that other outlets would follow. The post declared the ban “effective immediately” and used the phrase “fake news” three times. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that no specific incident had prompted the move and that it was “really just cumulative stories over the past few years,” according to Reuters.
Asked what he meant by other outlets to follow, Trump named the New York Times and the Washington Post and called them “fake news,” Reuters reported. He also said, “I don’t have to let them into my, into the people’s house.” Reuters noted that the scope of the ban was not immediately clear. Fox News, citing an unnamed senior White House official, reported that all three outlets were being informed they would be barred from the grounds beginning Saturday.
Saturday: Reporters Turned Away at the Gate
The ban took effect Saturday morning. MS NOW reported that a reporter and a cameraman were refused entry early in the morning, and that Secret Service officers at a security gate outside the West Wing confiscated their press badges. CNN later said White House reporter Betsy Klein was also denied access, and Politico editor-in-chief Jonathan Greenberger said the same of reporter Cheyenne Haslett. MS NOW’s Akayla Gardner said on air that an officer asked her to hand over her badge because it had been disabled, and that he told her the decision was above him.
Outlets Vow to Fight
All three organizations pushed back. CNN said it stands behind its White House journalists and that a ban would be “an illegal assault” on a constitutionally protected right, according to Reuters. Politico said on X that it would vigorously defend its First Amendment rights. An MS NOW spokesperson said the White House belongs to the American people and that the network intends to take any and all steps necessary to defend its First Amendment rights.
Press Groups and Legal Experts Weigh In
The National Press Club urged Trump to reverse the declaration immediately and said an implemented ban would be an “unprecedented assault on press freedom.” Seth Stern of the Freedom of the Press Foundation said it was hard to imagine a more blatant First Amendment violation than banning outlets for criticizing the government, according to Reuters. Jameel Jaffer of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University argued that a press pool is a “public forum,” so viewpoint-based exclusion would be unconstitutional.
Reuters noted that courts have historically given presidents wide discretion over selective access, such as Oval Office meetings and small press pools. Broader exclusions from generally available press facilities or credentials could face stronger constitutional challenges. The legality of Trump’s move may therefore depend on its scope, which had not been fully defined.
Sanders’ Record on the First Amendment and the Press
Saturday’s post is the latest in a long run of Sanders statements tying Trump to authoritarianism and the press. In a February 2018 statement on his official Senate website, Sanders said the country faced a choice between “democracy vs. authoritarianism” and accused Trump of “undermining the first amendment” by consistently labeling media criticism “fake news.”
In May 2025, Sanders and other senators wrote to the owner of CBS’s parent company, Paramount, urging it not to settle Trump’s lawsuit against the network. The senators wrote that press freedom “sets us apart from tin pot dictatorships and authoritarian regimes” and warned that a settlement would embolden Trump to shake down and silence other outlets.
Sanders also addressed the issue from the Senate floor earlier in Trump’s second term. In prepared remarks he called Trump’s attack on the free press a part of the move toward authoritarianism and compared it to the suppression of speech in Vladimir Putin’s Russia, concluding, “this is still a democracy.” In a January 2026 statement after Trump’s speech in Davos, Switzerland, Sanders said Trump “does not like free elections, a free media” or the right of people to dissent.
The senator has made similar arguments on other fronts. In January 2026, as ranking member of the Senate HELP Committee, he released a report on campus speech. The report found Trump had violated or likely violated the First Amendment in 17 cases tied to college campuses, according to federal courts. Sanders said the administration was moving the country “very aggressively” toward an authoritarian society. Last December, when Trump signaled involvement in the fight over Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of CNN, Sanders wrote on X, “That’s authoritarianism. Not democracy.”
A Long Record of Clashes With the Press
The latest ban follows a long pattern. Reuters reported that Trump has criticized the press regularly since his 2016 campaign and stepped up those attacks in his second term. He has urged the Federal Communications Commission to strip licenses from disfavored broadcasters and has sued 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.
Access disputes have precedent as well. In Trump’s first term, his White House tried to revoke or suspend the credentials of Playboy’s Brian Karem and CNN’s Jim Acosta, but federal judges ordered the passes restored, according to Reuters. Last year, Trump barred the Associated Press from the pool of reporters covering his movements because the agency did not adopt his preferred name for the Gulf of Mexico.
Politics and a War in the Background
The ban comes weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, in which Republicans are defending narrow majorities in Congress. Reuters wrote that Reuters/Ipsos polling shows the public souring on Republicans and that Trump’s approval ratings are near historic lows amid an unpopular Iran war that has driven up energy prices. That wartime backdrop gives the dispute over who may report from the executive mansion added weight.
Trump’s own announcement offered a different rationale for the ban. In the post, he also accused Politico of receiving an “illegal and ridiculous” $8 million in government subscriptions under former President Joe Biden, writing, “Seems like corruption to me!” The post said all three outlets were barred over what he described as “FAKE NEWS.” It remains to be seen whether the outlets follow through on their vows to challenge the ban in court, and Sanders’ post makes clear the political fight over it is only starting.