Ari Fleischer says "Banning them from the WH is not the solution" and urges opening the pool to conservatives
Ari FleischerFormer White House press secretary and Fox News contributor, on his personal X account
Fox News contributor and former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer wrote on X that he agrees with President Trump that several media outlets covering the White House are biased and unfair, but that excluding them is not the solution. He urged opening the pool and the briefing room to conservatives to challenge liberal reporters, and warned that conservatives could someday be excluded in the same way.
“Banning them from the WH is not the solution.”
Original post
Reporting
Reporting
Where this statement fits
Should President Trump bar CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House over their coverage?
On Friday, September 18, 2026, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that, "effective immediately, I am banning" CNN, MS NOW and Politico "from the White House as a result of their constant 'reporting' FAKE NEWS!" About an hour later, in the Oval Office, he said no particular story prompted the decision, that he does not want the outlets "in my office," and that "somebody has a right to keep them away" if outlets write false stories. The three outlets and press-freedom groups oppose the exclusion, citing constitutional protection for the press, and the White House Correspondents' Association said it "stands in defense of our colleagues at CNN, MSNOW, and POLITICO." On Saturday, September 19, MS NOW, CNN and Politico said their White House reporters were refused entry and had press passes confiscated; the White House referred questions to Trump's earlier remarks. The dispute is over whether President Trump should exclude named news organizations from White House access over what they report.
Source and context
Original post
About this source
Fleischer's own long-form post (about 57 words) on his X account (verified badge). The post's first sentence says he agrees with President Trump that several media outlets covering the White House are biased and unfair. The post does not name CNN, MS NOW or Politico; its connection to the announcement rests on its timing (about 1 hour 38 minutes after Trump's 3:04 PM EDT post), its topic (excluding outlets from the White House) and Mediaite's same-evening reading of it as a reaction to the announcement.
Reporting
About this source
Roundup of Fox News figures' reactions published Sept. 18, 2026 at 7:21 PM ET. It reproduces Fleischer's post as a block quotation matching the original and identifies him as a Fox News contributor and former White House press secretary. The outlet's headline wording and verbs are its own characterization and are not adopted here.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Reporting
About this source
Used for context only: it reports that Trump wrote on Truth Social around 3 p.m. Eastern, defended the announcement in the Oval Office about an hour later, that there was no indication his administration had taken steps to follow through, that CNN reporters remained in their White House workspace into Friday evening, and that the White House Press Office referred questions to those remarks. It does not record any statement by Fleischer, Turley or Hume.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Around 3 p.m. EDT on September 18, 2026, President Trump said on Truth Social that he was "banning" CNN, MS NOW and Politico "from the White House" over their coverage, and about an hour later he defended the announcement in Oval Office remarks. Fleischer, a Fox News contributor who was White House press secretary under President George W. Bush, posted at 4:42 p.m. EDT.
After the quotation
Fox News commentators Jonathan Turley and Brit Hume also criticized the announcement on X the same day, and Mediaite included the three posts in a roundup published at 7:21 p.m. EDT. In an article updated at 10:12 p.m. EDT, CNN reported there was no indication the administration had taken steps to follow through and that the White House Press Office had referred questions to Trump's Oval Office remarks.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Fleischer writes "Banning them from the WH is not the solution," an express rejection of the exclusion, and the rest of his post proposes opening the pool and briefing room to conservatives as the alternative. The closest competing label is “Mixed or conditional”, because the same post says he agrees with Trump that several outlets covering the White House are biased and unfair. That loses because the agreement concerns the outlets' coverage, which is outside the conduct under scrutiny, and his rejection of the exclusion carries no condition.
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The Dispute Index. "Ari Fleischer says "Banning them from the WH is not the solution" and urges opening the pool to conservatives". First published: 2026-09-19. Last updated: 2026-09-22. https://disputeindex.com/events/1121-fox-news-contributor-and-former-white-house-press