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Trump Says He is Banning CNN, Politico and MS Now From the White House; Vance to Midterm Voters: Give Us Another Chance. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired September 18, 2026 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[15:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: All right, we'll see. Jean Casarez, thank you so much.

Ahead with just 46 days until the midterm, some Republican candidates are distancing themselves from President Trump, even as the president tells voters to pretend he is the one on the ballot.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Breaking news into CNN. President Trump writing the following on Truth Social.

[15:35:00]

Quote, "I am proud to announce that, effective immediately, I am banning fake news CNN, MS Now (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 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 of fake news."

KEILAR: He goes on to write, "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."

Let's go now to CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter. Brian Stelter.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Well, this is unusual, isn't it? I think we'll go ahead and pull up the live shot of the White House because right now CNN's team remains at the White House working just like a usual normal Friday afternoon. But this is a very unusual post from the president.

The first question I had when I saw it was, what did CNN and MS NOW and Politico write that might have made the President so upset? And there is no specific answer in his post. There is no indication in that post. But most importantly right now, and the President posted this about half an hour ago, there is no indication that the administration is taking any steps to actually follow through on his threat. So even though the threat is quite serious and would have real implications for the First Amendment and for the press freedom in the United States, right now there's no indication that anyone at the White House is actually following through on the president's pretty incendiary claim that he has banned CNN from the White House. And as I said, the CNN staff remains there working like a normal Friday afternoon.

SANCHEZ: Yes, Brian, not the first time that the president has made these threats and to some degree has attempted to follow through on them.

STELTER: Yes, that's absolutely right. You know, what comes to mind here is right after the midterms in 2018 during Trump's first term in office. He was angry about a question from our former CNN colleague, Jim Acosta, who was working here at the network for many years.

Acosta asked a question in a press conference. The president then took steps to revoke Acosta's press pass. And some viewers might remember that actually provoked a legal battle where CNN reluctantly, right, not seeking out any reason to go to court, but having to go to court to defend that White House correspondent's First Amendment rights.

So there was a very brief court fight. The judge sided right away with CNN. And within a matter of days, Acosta was back at work at the White House.

There have been a couple of other somewhat similar cases in American history where a White House has tried to strip a reporter's press pass and where there's been a legal battle and essentially the same thing always happens and the reporter gets back to work. We have not really seen that happen during Trump's second term in office. There was an attempt to ban the Associated Press from some White House events.

There's been legal action about that. But we have not seen the president actually announce that he's banned news outlets altogether. And in this situation, we're in a little bit of a vacuum because, as I said, there's no indication that he's actually followed through.

So let's give it a couple hours, see what happens. Certainly, if there is an attempt to remove journalists from the White House, well, our cameras are rolling. I think viewers will see it happen if it does attempt to be happened -- attempt to be tried.

KEILAR: All right. We will be watching. Brian Stelter, thank you so much for joining us for that.

Ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL with 46 days until the midterms, Republicans are running out of time and voters are running out of patience. We'll look at Vice President J.D. Vance's pitch on the campaign trail in Iowa next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Today, Vice President J.D. Vance rallied voters in Iowa with an interesting midterm message. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I always tell you, ladies and gentlemen, whenever you hear me talk during this midterm campaign, I'll say Rome was not built in a day, because we know there's a lot of work to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Now, the vice president had a similar campaign message during a podcast earlier this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANCE: There's a lot of good that's been done, but there's a lot of work left to do. Don't give power to the people who cause the problems that we're fixing. Give us another chance or give us another couple of years to continue to work on the amazing things that we've been doing for the past two years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: We're joined now by Kendra Barkoff. She's the former press secretary for then Vice President Joe Biden. She's also the current managing director at SKDK.

And we're joined by Republican strategist Melik Abdul. And I do guys just want to note that we're keeping our eye on the President. He is in the Oval Office where he is announcing a Medicaid drug pricing plan.

So we're going to go ahead and monitor those remarks in case there's anything that we need to bring to you. But in the meantime, the vice president calling for patience. And Malik, I wonder.

Yes, Rome wasn't built in a day, but it took, I think, many, many centuries. How much patience do voters have?

MELIK ABDUL, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, there was a song I remember growing up. It was a gospel song. It may not come when you want him, but he'll be there right on time.

He's an on time God. That's when it that's when it comes to God. It's not when it comes to a president of the United States.

And so this idea that somehow just hold off a bit. We've been in for two years. Just give us a little more time.

I think there are some good things that the administration obviously can point to. Unfortunately, what he's doing, getting ready to do with this Medicaid thing is going to be overshadowed by his threat to ban CNN. Of course, that's ridiculous.

[15:45:00] But there are some good things that the administration can point to. The problem is, and you talk to Republicans and we say it over and over again. It is the lack of focus.

So we should be talking about all of the great things that the administration has been doing. But now we're saying, give us a little more time. And we're going to have to now respond to Donald Trump saying that he wants to ban CNN.

SANCHEZ: Kendra, I imagine that Democrats are going to clip Vice President J.D. Vance saying that and use it in ads.

KENDRA BARKOFF, FORMER PRESS SECRETARY FOR THEN-VP JOE BIDEN: Yes, my entire Twitter feed yesterday was already taken up by the first interview that he did. I'm sure the second time around is going to be the same thing. But look, I think what you're starting to see over the past several months is Republican erosion of support of Donald Trump.

You saw there was a Wall Street Journal article last week that started with the attorneys general on the ground. Those are the guys who are on the boot -- boots on the ground, who are seeing exactly what's happening in their state. They have started to erode their trust in President Trump.

And now you're starting to see it with members of Congress. You saw Representative Salazar come out with a campaign ad that really talked about immigration and how she is not supportive of what President Trump's done. You saw two Republican, ironically, Iowans vote against or vote for the war ending in Iran.

You're starting to see some of this kind of fall. And of course, then no one is going to want to appear with the president in some of these ads moving forward.

KEILAR: We never really know what's going to happen until Election Day, right? Is there going to be a wave? Is there not?

We don't know. The voters tell us, right? And I wonder, though, how much Democrats are feeling that they have a chance, Kendra, at races that normally they wouldn't have any business thinking they'd have a chance at.

Are Democrats really eying these Senate seats in Kansas and Iowa and thinking they have a really good shot at it?

BARKOFF: I think if diesel prices remain at an all-time high and gas prices remain as high as they are and groceries remain as high as they are and the war in Iran continues to go the way it's been going, I think Democrats do think that they have and should think that they have a chance to win in states that they haven't been able to in a really long time. You're seeing in Texas what's going on in the governor's race. She is up in the polls, even though she's being outspent 10 to 1 by the current governor.

I think you're starting to see really Democrats getting behind these candidates and being excited about these candidates in a first time that I just don't know you're seeing Republicans as excited about some of these candidates in their states.

SANCHEZ: The natural response from Republicans, Melik, is to try to localize their races and speak to that local audience, especially when it comes to House members. And that's why I think you see Mike Lawler in New York talking about his work on assault taxes --

ABDUL: Salazar.

SANCHEZ: Salazar talking about the immigration crackdown, how that's affected that community. And in other places, Republicans going after Democrats, not so much talking about national issues. How effective is that going to be when gas prices are so high and everyone's feeling that affordability crunch?

ABDUL: That's literally the play here. It should not be a national election. Democrats are going to nationalize the election.

Of course, they're the party that's not in power. What Republicans have to do is actually get in and talk about those local issues, whether that's Texas, whether that's Florida, whether that's New York. And I'll push back on a bit about this erosion of support among Republicans.

It isn't that you're seeing erosion of support. You're seeing people now willing to push back some against the president in ways that you typically haven't. But we've also saw this during 2014, where Democrats were running away from Barack Obama, like Alison Lunder and Grime.

People typically don't remember her, but she wouldn't even mention Barack Obama's name, wouldn't allow Barack Obama to come and campaign for her. So you typically do see this sort of shifting, moving away from the president. And as we've seen with even Senator Collins, there are instances where the president gives a wink and a nod to go ahead and distance themselves from him.

KEILAR: This president isn't like that, though. I remember with George W. Bush or Obama, you know, if a candidate didn't want them around, all right, they're not going to kind of touch that race.

Trump, he's not really giving people a choice, right? Is he really giving Republicans a choice? Is he saying, pretend that I'm on the ticket?

ABDUL: So for instance, you're probably not going to see Trump go to Maine. That's not a state that he's going to go to, simply because of the dynamics there in the state, but in other places.

KEILAR: But he's going to be on the TV, right?

ABDUL: Yes.

KEILAR: He's not going to shy away from being big during this election season. ABDUL: Absolutely.

KEILAR: And I wonder how difficult that does make it. And he doesn't necessarily have to show up in the community, but he's not shying away from being a big part of the conversation as we are very close to the midterms.

ABDUL: Absolutely.

KEILAR: How does that affect it?

ABDUL: It's a serious thing because Trump isn't on the ballot, but in every way, he actually is on the ballot.

[15:50:00]

So you can have a very good run with Republicans and these, you know, members in these states talking about the things that are specific to their states, and then Donald Trump can decide, I'm going to ban CNN. And so the discussion is not what the administration's policies are, not like a Ken Paxton talking about the billion dollar settlements that he got against Meta and Google that appeals to a suburban voter in Collin County. You can't talk about that because you have to then respond to whatever Donald Trump says.

SANCHEZ: Kendra, before we go, I guess the way that Republicans have tried to attack Democrats locally, as we heard from J.D. Vance, is to find a boogeyman. And if the boogeyman isn't good enough, just go after Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan. Is that effective in some of these races?

How do you see it? Especially, we should note, in light of the association now with Hasan Piker, a lot of discussion, Brianna's had conversations with lawmakers who have said, we're sick of talking about Hasan Piker. Can they shake that association?

BARKOFF: I think if you're going after an individual like that, you've lost the voters. If elected officials or those who are running for office are going out there and talking about the issues that matter to people, that they can't put the food on the table, so vote for me because I can help you do that the next time around. That's how you're going to win elections.

When gas prices are so high that farmers are complaining they can't transport their goods from one place to the next, that's what's really going to matter to these voters moving forward. And I think that if Democrats continue to stick on that message, I think we're going to see a very interesting midterm.

KEILAR: Kendra Barkoff, Melik Abdul, thank you so much for the conversation.

SANCHEZ: So back more now on the breaking news in a Truth Social post. President Trump said he is banning CNN and some others from the White House. KEILAR: Yes, he said he's banning MS Now as well and Politico. And we're joined now by CNN's Kristen Holmes, who is joining us from the White House. Also with us is CNN's chief media analyst, Brian Stelter.

Brian, first to you, any updates?

STELTER: No updates that I've seen. I've been checking in with these other outlets, no comment yet from Politico or from MS Now. And certainly this is a bit of a bemusing situation because the president announced this ban on Truth Social about an hour ago, but there's been no action by the White House to try to implement it.

We haven't seen anything like that, and I think Kristen can show that with her own camera there in just a moment. So hopefully there is no follow through. I think I can say this as someone who's covered the news media for 20 years, places like CNN, Politico, they're not looking to pick a fight with the White House.

We're just looking to cover the White House. We're just looking to report on the White House. And a key part of reporting on the White House is being there in person, having that physical access, being able not just to email or call the aide or the cabinet member, but actually talk to that person face to face.

Those relationships are valuable and that access is valuable and it results in better information for the public. So that access is important. It's not the only way to cover the White House, but it's an important way.

So these news outlets are not out trying to pick a fight or find out if they're banned or not. They're just trying to cover the news every day and that's so far what's going on, even though I've never seen this before, this message from the president, this announcement of people being banned from the White House. Trump's announced lots of things on True Social, but never anything quite like this before.

SANCHEZ: Kristen, two related questions. What was happening in the CNN White House booth at the time that this was announced? Was there any indication that this was coming?

And separately, do we have any indication as to why President Trump has singled out CNN and MS NOW and Politico? Was there a story that upset him in particular?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We don't have any clear understanding of what the catalyst was for this. He had earlier posted another tweet about CNN. He was clearly watching our network and was unhappy with some of the coverage, as he said, about Republicans.

So that was the only indication we would have had, but that is really par for the course here with this White House, not just President Trump, but several of his senior aides often post kind of quips or slights at CNN. So it's unclear what escalated it to be a full, him saying it was a ban against these various outlets, specifically, as you noted, MS NOW, Politico and CNN. And it's still not entirely clear what that means, just given the fact that there are various levels of press coverage here at the White House.

There is a pool that all of the networks are a part of. There are hard passes to get in, to go through security. So there are various levels here.

And it's just not clear right now what exactly the president and this White House means. I will note that the president is currently in an Oval Office meeting with the press. It is likely he is going to get questions on this.

We are waiting to hear this is an unrelated event, but it's likely this will come up.

SANCHEZ: Yes, we'll see what the president says. Glad to see you're still there at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Please keep us posted if that changes.

[15:55:00]

Kristen Holmes, Brian Stelter, thank you so much. Stay with CNN. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: They're like little furry ninjas, right? They hide under cars, slip behind buildings. They often go unnoticed in plain sight.

Tens of millions of stray and feral cats live across the country. They do face hunger and illness.

KEILAR: And this week, CNN hero is working hard to break that cycle. Here is her story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAINA SPAGIS, FOUNDER, CATS OF SAN BERNADINO: If you aren't looking for cats, you might not see them. But as soon as you do, you see them everywhere. And they're in such great need, especially in low-income areas like San Bernardino.

Today, we're trying to catch three orange kitties and we're trying to get them in for TNR tomorrow.

Cats of San Bernardino is a non-profit cat rescue. Some of our main focuses are TNR, which is the process of trapping a cat.

All right, mama.

Getting them spayed, neutered, vaccinating, and then returning them back to where we got them. This helps curb the population of cats that are being born to suffer on the streets.

Come on, big guy.

We also do colony feedings where we care for 14 different colonies every single day, providing food, water, medical care to them. Can I see him?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, of course. We just found her, I believe, out in our dugout.

SPAGIS: Cats We find a friendly kitty, or they're sick or injured.

She got upper respiratory infection for sure.

We take them into our rescue. We get them the treatment they need.

Our rescue, which is based out of our home, has our isolation and medical room.

It's time for your medicine.

Which is our garage, which has been outfitted fully as a medical ward.

20.5 ounces. You're a big boy. You're the biggest. Good job, bud.

And then we also have what we call the healthy kitty club, which is a bedroom in our home. This is where the healthy adoptable kitties come to hang out until they're ready to be adopted.

We have three catios that are connected to that room. Although work never ends, it's a work that we love. So I love having them close by.

It is vet day Friday. We have six kitties for TNR.

Social media plays a huge role in our rescue. My wife does almost all of the social media.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let's start with the first clip.

SPAGIS: It is the only place that we get funding from. It is a huge aspect of what we do and so, so important.

So if you're looking for a high energy, definitely him.

Finding them home is always a great feeling, but even better is when their adopters create their own social media for them. We get to follow along on their journey for the rest of their lives.

Let's get the crusties off. They all have different personalities. They all have worth. I love seeing them live their best life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: That's so cute.

SANCHEZ: At first, I thought they were talking about that new Tlacoyo cat they found in Bolivia. It was like a new cat. There's a brand new cat that's out there. Science just found it.

KEILAR: Isn't that wild? Like you wouldn't think.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

KEILAR: But there you go.

SANCHEZ: They're still out there. Shout out to Brianna's cat.

KEILAR: Yes, rescued, rescued cat.

"THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now.

END