The Trump administration has frozen out CNN and is refusing to have anyone associated with the President appearing on the network.
According to Politico, the White House has acknowledged that this is the case, noting that “We’re sending surrogates to places where we think it makes sense to promote our agenda,” and admitting that CNN is not one of those places.
An administration spokesperson said that the ban is not permanent. However, it is clear that no administration officials have appeared on CNN since early January.
The last to appear was Kellyanne Conway, the day that Trump refused to answer a question from a CNN reporter, owing to the network’s involvement in the ‘dodgy dossier’ fake news story.
Speaking anonymously, a CNN reporter claimed that the White House is attempting to force down the network’s ratings as a punishment.
“They’re trying to cull CNN from the herd,” the reporter told Politico.
At a press gathering Monday at the George Washington University, Press Secretary Sean Spicer denied the allegations that CNN is being black balled, noting that he still answers questions from CNN reporters at the daily press gatherings.
However, Spicer noted “I’m not going to sit around and engage with people who have no desire to actually get something right.”
Politico notes that Conway, Spicer, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and Vice President Mike Pence have all appeared on every major network’s Sunday shows between them, except for CNN’s “State of the Union”.
Anchor Jake Tapper also believes CNN is being purposefully ignored.
“We invited the Trump White House to offer us a guest to provide clarity and an explanation of what the president just did,” Tapper said on Sunday, referring to the temporary refugee ban. “The Trump White House declined our invitation,” Tapper noted.
Trump himself has consistently lashed out at CNN for months, calling it ‘fake news’.
.@CNN is in a total meltdown with their FAKE NEWS because their ratings are tanking since election and their credibility will soon be gone!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2017
We had a great News Conference at Trump Tower today. A couple of FAKE NEWS organizations were there but the people truly get what's going on
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2017
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