AG Todd Blanche Spars With ABC Over CNN’s Air Force One Access

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Attorney General Todd Blanche, a named defendant in the Fifth Circuit interstate handgun case

Attorney General Todd Blanche went head-to-head with ABC’s Martha Raddatz Sunday over the White House decision to keep CNN off Air Force One—and over who gets to decide which reporters have access to President Trump.

The exchange was more revealing than a routine argument about a seating chart. Blanche called a place on the presidential plane a privilege, while Raddatz pressed him on whether the administration was punishing coverage it dislikes.

According to the ABC News transcript, Raddatz said CNN had been scheduled for the press pool on the president’s Tennessee trip but was denied a seat on Air Force One. Blanche answered that the president decides who travels with him and argued that inaccurate reporting can have national-security consequences.

That claim deserves scrutiny. The power to manage space on a government aircraft is real; treating unfavorable or allegedly inaccurate coverage as a national-security threat is a much broader proposition.

Raddatz kept returning to the practical issue: if the press-pool assignment had already been made, why was one of the organizations removed? Blanche did not provide a specific security threat posed by a CNN reporter on that flight, leaving his broader argument to carry the defense.

He also distinguished the right to publish from access to the president, saying journalists remained free to report what they wanted. Losing a pool seat limits what that newsroom can witness and report firsthand.

Here is Blanche making the administration’s access argument in the interview:

The dispute is already in court. A judge’s temporary restraining order restored access to CNN, MS NOW and Politico for 14 days while litigation continues, according to Louisville Public Media.

That is an interim ruling, not a final verdict on the White House’s policy. The underlying lawsuit remains active, and the immediate question is what rules govern access while it proceeds.

Raddatz asked Blanche about the administration’s national-security rationale and about the possibility of screening reporters. Blanche said misinformation can damage relationships with foreign partners and affect how adversaries understand the United States.

Those are serious concerns. The relevant question is whether the government can use that concern to choose which news organizations may cover the president up close.

Blanche laid out his argument about foreign relationships in this portion of the interview:

One point in the exchange is easy to miss. Blanche pushed back when Raddatz characterized his position as a plan to screen reporters, saying he had not announced such a plan.

He also said the press is free to report what it wants and acknowledged that the White House access criteria are not his decision.

That clarification matters. It would be inaccurate to say Blanche announced a new reporter-vetting program on Sunday.

What he did was defend the president’s discretion over access while arguing that media accuracy can become a security issue.

The disagreement over the word “screen” played out on camera:

The White House has a legitimate interest in security, logistics and a functioning press pool. News organizations have a legitimate interest in rules that do not shift whenever officials dislike a story.

Both propositions can be true.

Now the courts will have to determine where discretion ends and retaliation begins. Until then, the temporary order keeps the fight alive—and Sunday’s interview made the administration’s position unusually plain.

The post AG Todd Blanche Spars With ABC Over CNN’s Air Force One Access appeared first on 100PercentFedUp.com.

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