Politics

White House vs. Press: A Timeline of Presidential Battles With Journalists

On August 17, 2026, President Trump told CNN's Kristen Holmes to 'be quiet' after she asked about North Korea and Sen. Jon Ossoff's remarks on aide Natalie Har…

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FDR'S FIRST FIRESIDE CHAT

Radio lets a president bypass newspapers for the first time

Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed the banking crisis directly to a national radio audience, eight days after taking office. It was the first technology letting a president…

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FIRST LIVE TELEVISED PRESS…

Kennedy takes live questions on television for the first time

An estimated 65 million Americans watched John F. Kennedy take live, unedited questions from reporters, adding a watching public as a second audience alongside the press…

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NIXON RESIGNS AFTER WATERGA…

Investigative reporting, courts and Congress together end a presidency

Washington Post reporting by Woodward and Bernstein, aided by a confidential FBI source, ran alongside a Senate investigation, a special prosecutor and a unanimous Supre…

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CNN LAUNCHES

The first 24-hour news channel creates a continuous political cycle

Ted Turner's Cable News Network became the first all-news, 24-hour channel, replacing the once-a-day newspaper deadline with a continuous cycle every White House since h…

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"YOU ARE FAKE NEWS"

President-elect Trump refuses a question from CNN's Jim Acosta

At his first press conference since winning the election, Trump refused to take Jim Acosta's question, telling him 'You are fake news' — an early, widely covered use of…

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ACOSTA'S PRESS PASS RESTORE…

A federal judge orders the White House to reinstate Jim Acosta's credential

After the White House suspended Acosta's hard pass on November 7, 2018 following a contentious exchange, CNN sued. Judge Timothy Kelly ordered it restored, finding the a…

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WHITE HOUSE TAKES OVER THE…

The WHCA loses its decades-old role selecting the press pool

For the first time in decades, the White House itself began deciding which outlets fill the small rotating pool with access to the Oval Office and Air Force One, a chang…

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TRUMP TELLS KRISTEN HOLMES…

White House Rapid Response account personally attacks a CNN reporter

After Holmes asked about North Korea and read Trump Sen. Jon Ossoff's remarks about aide Natalie Harp, Trump told her repeatedly to 'be quiet' and called her a 'fake rep…

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