President Bans Major News Outlets

One of the biggest questions that we've gotten asked and

that we've asked our

sources ever since the president announced that he was banning CNN, MS

Now, and Politico from covering his

administration on Friday was,

why now? The president has complained about

negative coverage for decades,

long before he was in political office.

So why is he taking this step to block outlets whose coverage he doesn't

like from covering him? Well, our sources tell my colleague Kevin

Liptak and I that last week, the president's close aide, Natalie

Harp, who is often seen with him in the Oval

Office or on Air Force

One, showed him graphics of negative coverage

from Politico.

Between that and coverage, TV clips that the president also saw,

he was infuriated, which is what we're told led him to ban these

outlets from covering him on Friday.

It's a move that actually caught a lot of people in the West Wing off guard, and

they were surprised themselves when the president announced that he

was banning

those outlets. Now, when it comes to CNN

and the president banning

CNN from coming into the White House, from accessing Air Force One, the

TV pool, which are all the major outlets, Fox News, CBS,

ABC, NBC, and CNN, have all banded together, and they

have suspended the TV pool, which means that for the time

being, the president will not have a camera

and reporters from a

major outlet, a major television outlet, covering him.

That comes as he is headed to New York on Monday for the United Nations General

Assembly and also ahead of his big state visit in Washington

with Xi Jinping, all events that we know the president values having

broadcast on television.