The White House reversed course Thursday on its media restrictions, permitting reporters to return after initially blocking them ahead of President Donald Trump’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“CNN was allowed back into the White House on Thursday at noon,” host Kaitlan Collins wrote on X following the confrontation.
Several journalists were turned away despite a federal judge ordering the administration, just hours earlier, to restore access for the affected news organizations.
US District Judge Timothy Kelly issued a temporary restraining order early Thursday, requiring the Trump administration to readmit journalists from Politico, CNN and MS NOW. Trump had barred the outlets the previous Friday.
Even after the order took effect, the White House continued to deny entry to reporters from the three outlets and confiscated some credentials Thursday morning. Access was restored later in the day.
The dispute unfolded as Trump hosted Xi Jinping and his wife, Madame Peng, at the White House, where he celebrated what he called the “truly great friendship” between the two leaders.
Trump announced the media ban last Friday in an angry social media post accusing the outlets of spreading “fake news.” Reports said his aide Natalie Harp had shown him a selection of critical coverage shortly before the decision was made.
Politico said one of its reporters had their credentials taken Thursday even after the court ruling cleared the way for re-entry. MS NOW likewise reported that one of its journalists was denied access and had their credentials confiscated.
CNN, MS NOW and Politico employees were initially kept out of the White House on Thursday, but the administration reversed the decision by noon, after ceremonies marking Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit had begun
Xi Jinping (2nd-L) and China’s first lady Peng Liyuan (L) greet US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump (R) during an arrival ceremony at the White House on September 24, 2026, in Washington, DC
MS NOW correspondent Akayla Gardner reports outside the White House after President Donald Trump excluded MS NOW, CNN and Politico in a post on Truth Social
The three news organizations sued the Trump administration on Monday, and the case moved swiftly through the courts.
Other major broadcasters, including Fox News, NBC, CBS and ABC, responded by declining to cover the president. The networks make up the television pool that shares responsibility for presidential coverage on a rotating basis.
ABC News was scheduled to serve as the television pool for Xi’s state visit Thursday. However, the network refused to enter events until the White House provided evidence that CNN journalists had been allowed inside, according to the Guardian.
When Trump and first lady Melania Trump welcomed Xi and Madame Peng at the airport Wednesday, several broadcast crews packed away their cameras and watched the proceedings without recording them.
Despite the media blackout, Trump offered warm remarks about the Chinese president and noted that it was the first time Xi had met him at the White House.
“We have spent time together all over the world,” Trump said.
He added that their travels had allowed them to “forge a friendship, a truly great friendship, actually.”
Trump described his visit to Beijing earlier this year as a “great privilege” and praised Xi for providing “spectacular and very beautiful hospitality.”
The restrictions triggered a media blackout during Trump’s state visit with Chinese President Xi Jinping
Chinese President Xi Jinping, his wife, Peng Liyuan and US first lady Melania Trump listen to US President Donald Trump delivering remarks at the White House in Washington, DC, US, September 24, 2026
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump greet China’s President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan on the South Portico of the White House, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, in Washington
He said he and the first lady ‘are honoured to host you’ in ‘the beautiful White House.’
The Chinese president, meanwhile, said he and Trump have established a ‘personal rapport’ over the years and encourage their governments to communicate.
But Xi said those talks can be improved.
‘We should strengthen communication,’ he said. ‘China and the United States are different in national condition, but through candid, in-depth, and continued dialogue, our two countries can understand each other better, seek common ground, while shelving differences and build up mutual trust.’
Xi said he and Trump have pushed better communication among their lieutenants ‘in charge of foreign affairs, economic matters, financial cooperation and law enforcement and people-to-people exchanges.’
He added later that the nations’ militaries can ‘maintain regular dialogue’ as part of an overall relationship that involves ‘healthy’ competition that is ‘kept within bounds.’
Trump’s week has been packed with major events from attending the UN General Assembly meeting in New York City to the historic state visit with Xi in Washington, which concludes on Friday.
The media blackout has prevented widespread coverage of the spectacles, and the broadcasters have mostly not taken any of the events live.
New media outlets like Real America’s Voice, a MAGA-friendly network, have filled the void with YouTube streams.
Given the ban on CNN and MS NOW, the broadcast tents they used to occupy on White House grounds are now vacant with their lights off, and correspondents have opted instead to shoot live shots from the streets outside the presidential residence.
It is unclear when the White House will officially restore the outlets’ credentials.
The Daily Mail contacted the White House for comment.
The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) released a blistering condemnation of the ban in the wake of the media crackdown.
‘The president said it plainly in the Oval Office, describing his own planned action as a ‘ban on the free press,” Jacqui Heinrich, WHCA president, said in a statement.
‘The Constitution protects the freedom of the press from government interference. That protection does not depend on whether the president likes a news organization’s coverage, agrees with its reporting, or approves of the questions its journalists ask.’