Trump Claims He ‘Loves an Open, Free Press’ While Calling Out Reporter and Telling Her to Be ‘Quiet’ in Tense Exchange

President Donald Trump declared he “loves an open, free press” while calling out a reporter and shutting her down during a tense exchange about his media ban.

MS NOW White House reporter Akayla Gardner reported to network host Jacob Soboroff on Saturday about her brief, but tense exchange with the president as he was jetting off to Tennessee for a college football game.

CNN was planned to be covering the president during this time, but they were replaced by LindellTV, owned by Trump ally Mike Lindell.

Gardner explained:

I asked him if he only wants outlets that support him to be a part of the press pool. And today, LindellTV and Real America’s Voices, two outlets that are very much aligned with the president’s vision, are the designated TV pool for today, as in the secondary TV pool.

So the primary TV pool is this pool of the five networks: ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, and CNN. And they did not cover today’s departure because of the fact that CNN is being barred from covering the president’s travel today.

This latest exclusion of CNN follows Trump barring reporters from CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from White House coverage. After reporters’ credentials were disabled, the outlets filed suit and a judge ordered that the ban be reversed and it was — after a significant delay.

Trump accused all three outlets of publishing “fake news” and continued raging against the media in Saturday Truth Social posts.

Gardner laid out her exchange with Trump in comments to Soboroff and in an X post.

Check out the full exchange below:

GARDNER: Do you only want outlets that support you to be a part of the press pool?

TRUMP: No, no, no. I want real news, not fake news — like you. I want-

CROSSTALK: Mr. President-

TRUMP: Listen. I want real news. I love an open, free press. What I don’t like is the fake press where a group like CNN, few people watch it, or MSDNC, which they changed I guess to NOW. But, you know why they changed it? Because their ratings are so bad. What I don’t like-

GARDNER: Do you not want tough questions, sir?

TRUMP: Wait, wait. Quiet. What I- what I don’t like is fake news. And they’re fake news. 100%. In two years—

GARDNER: Do you not want tough questions, sir?

TRUMP: In two years, I doubt they did one good story. And I won the election in a landslide. So what we don’t want is we don’t want fake news.

Gardner told Soboroff that when Trump was calling out “fake news,” he pointed right to her as a prime example. Gardner was one of the reporters turned away from the White House last Saturday amid Trump’s media ban attempt.

“He pointed at me at one point, talked about CNN, talked about M S NOW, so making very clear there that he continues to want to exclude us. But we were, I should say, allowed into this open press event today,” she said.

Soboroff blasted the president’s declaration about loving an “open” and “free” press.

“It is incredibly childish behavior and completely ridiculous to say both he wants an open and free press and then point at you point other reporters and bar CNN from being on his plane today,” he said.

Watch above via MS NOW.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!