CNN’s Abby Phillip Corners Pro-Trump Guest Arguing Trump’s Media Ban Is Nothing New: ‘You’re Not Answering My Question!’

CNN’s Abby Phillip confronted a conservative guest who argued President Donald Trump’s media bans are nothing new and dismissed concerns that he’s anti-First Amendment as “so maudlin.”

On Saturday’s Table for Five, the New York Post’s Lydia Moynihan pushed back on left-wing YouTuber Adam Mockler saying Trump is the “worst” president when it comes to the First Amendment. Mockler blasted the administration’s initial White House ban on CNN, MS NOW, and Politico, a ban that was reversed after a court order.

Moynihan argued every president has tried to “censor” the media in one way or another, including former President Joe Biden.

“I also just want to respond to some of Adam’s points, claiming that Trump is the worst president for the First Amendment ever. I find this reaction just so maudlin, and there’s so much revisionist history,” she said.

“Every single president has tried to censor media. Biden was constantly kicking out the New York Post from events. There were lots of conservative outlets,” she said as Mockler jumped in.

“He did a blanket ban from the White House?” Mockler asked.

As the two dove into crosstalk, Phillip took the reins and pressed Moynihan on her point about other presidents’ actions against the press reaching the level of Trump’s ban.

“Did Biden take away the press passes of New York Post reporters?” Phillip asked Moynihan.

“At various points they were not invited to certain events, yes,” Moynihan said.

“Hold on. But did he take away the press passes and prevent them from covering the White House altogether?” Phillip asked again.

“They were not allowed to come to certain events,” Moynihan said.

“You’re not answering my question. Did he take away the press passes?” Phillip flatly asked.

“I mean…” Moynihan began as Mockler jumped in again.

“That’s what blanket means in this situation,” he explained.

“The press passes are reinstated,” Moynihan pushed back.

“Yeah, because a court ordered them to be. It’s a different situation,” Phillip declared.

“Okay, but it’s a little maudlin. He’s the most accessible president. I would guess probably half of us have his number at this table. A lot more accessible than Biden,” Moynihan said as Phillip moved on from the subject.

Trump declared on Sept. 18 that he was booting CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House and the outlets soon reported that their reporters’ press credentials had been disabled. Trump claimed the outlets were publishing “fake news,” but a judge ordered the ban be reversed, leading to credentials being restored — after a significant delay.

After the credentials were reinstated, Trump replaced CNN from its scheduled White House television pool duties for Saturday with LindellTV, owned by Trump ally Mike Lindell.

In a Truth Social post on Saturday, Trump questioned why he should give the outlets access at all.

“Why should perpetrators of FAKE NEWS, like CNN and MSDNC, be allowed access to a very sacred place, the White House? Despite my big Election Win, almost 100% of “TRUMP” coverage is negative, and has been for years!” he wrote.

Watch above via CNN.

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