Former President Barack Obama is criticizing President Trump over his decision to bar CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, but the controversy has also brought renewed attention to the Obama administration’s own battles with the press.
Speaking Friday at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, Obama questioned what the reaction would have been if his administration had taken comparable action against Fox News.
“I’m trying to think what would have happened if I had said, ‘You know what, Fox News, you’re out of here!’” Obama said.
President Trump announced Friday that CNN, MS NOW and Politico were banned from the White House, accusing the organizations of publishing “FICTION and LIES.” Reporters from all three organizations were subsequently denied entry, and their White House credentials were confiscated. The outlets have challenged the action as unconstitutional and filed a First Amendment lawsuit seeking restoration of their access.
Obama’s criticism, however, revived discussion of several episodes involving journalists during his own presidency.
In 2009, the Obama White House became embroiled in a dispute involving Fox News after officials attempted to exclude the network from a pool interview with Treasury official Kenneth Feinberg. Other television networks objected, and Fox ultimately participated.
Then came the Obama Justice Department’s leak investigations.
In 2013, it was revealed that federal prosecutors had secretly obtained two months of telephone records involving Associated Press reporters and editors. The records covered numerous telephone lines used by journalists.
The Justice Department also investigated Fox News reporter James Rosen while pursuing a government leak. Prosecutors described Rosen as a possible “co-conspirator” under the Espionage Act while obtaining authorization to access his emails. Rosen was never charged with a crime.
Obama later publicly expressed concern that leak investigations could interfere with legitimate journalism and directed Attorney General Eric Holder to review Justice Department policies concerning investigations involving reporters.
Those episodes do not make President Trump’s current action identical to what occurred during the Obama administration. President Trump directly barred three news organizations from White House access based on reporting he condemned. Obama did not ultimately impose an equivalent blanket White House ban on Fox News.
But Obama’s remarks have nevertheless reopened a legitimate historical comparison over how presidential administrations respond to adversarial reporting.
The current dispute is now moving beyond political rhetoric and into federal court. CNN, MS NOW and Politico argue that the government cannot revoke access in retaliation for constitutionally protected reporting. The Trump administration maintains that White House access is a privilege and has defended the restrictions as a response to reporting President Trump considers false.
Obama wanted to talk about what might have happened if he had told Fox News, “you’re out of here.”
The historical record makes the comparison considerably more complicated than that hypothetical suggests.
Sources: Provided source material; Reuters reporting on the September 2026 White House restrictions; Associated Press reporting on the resulting First Amendment lawsuit; contemporaneous reporting on the Obama Justice Department’s investigations involving the Associated Press and James Rosen.
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