Chuck Schumer says Trump’s announcement on CNN, MS NOW and Politico is what “dictators throughout history have done”
United States senator from New York and Senate Democratic leader, posting on his official X account
“Donald Trump just did what dictators throughout history have done. @realDonaldTrump - this is a democracy. You will not be able to manipulate the news or hide the truth.”
Source and context
Original post
About this source
Read through the fxtwitter API (api.fxtwitter.com/SenSchumer/status/2101038513957355959) on 2026-09-19 about 9:09 AM EDT; x.com itself was not opened. Author screen name SenSchumer, bio 'Official Account of Senator Chuck Schumer...', government-verified. The post is a quote-post of @MeidasTouch status 2101028396415570155 (posted 19:19:39 UTC), whose text is 'JUST IN: Trump says he is banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, and that he will be banning additional news outlets soon.' The words 'just did' have no explicit referent in Schumer's own text; the link to the announcement rests on that quoted post and on CNN, USA Today and Axios reporting the post as a reaction to the announcement.
Reporting
About this source
Opened in full on 2026-09-19 (HTTP 200); published 2026-09-18T19:40Z and updated 2026-09-19T02:12Z per the page's structured data. It quotes both parts of Schumer's post, matching the X text except that it capitalizes 'This' and omits '@realDonaldTrump -'; the quotation in this record follows the original post, not CNN's edit. Also the source for the context sentences (Oval Office questioning, press-office referral, no visible enforcement into Friday evening). CNN calls him Senate Minority Leader; his X bio says Senate Democratic Leader.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
At 3:04 PM EDT on Sept. 18, 2026, less than an hour before this post, Trump wrote on Truth Social that, effective immediately, he was banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House as a result of their coverage. Schumer’s post quotes a MeidasTouch post reading “JUST IN: Trump says he is banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, and that he will be banning additional news outlets soon.”
After the quotation
CNN reported that Trump was questioned about the announcement at an Oval Office event about an hour after his post and that the White House Press Office, asked for comment, referred to those remarks. CNN also reported that its reporters remained in their White House workspace into Friday evening, with no indication the administration had taken steps to follow through.
How this statement is classified
Case context: Should President Trump bar CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House over their coverage?
The label describes this statement’s response within the context above.
Why this label?
The case’s fixed reference point is President Trump’s announcement, by Truth Social post at 3:04 PM EDT on Sept. 18, 2026 and reaffirmed in the Oval Office that afternoon, that CNN, MS NOW and Politico are banned from the White House because of their coverage. Schumer’s post, which quotes a post reporting that announcement, says Trump “just did what dictators throughout history have done” and that he “will not be able to manipulate the news or hide the truth,” which rejects the act itself. The closest competing label is challenges_characterization, since the closing line could be read as answering Trump’s description of the outlets. That loses because the passage goes on to a plain condemnation of the conduct rather than only disputing a label.
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- Donald Trump
Should President Trump bar CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House over their coverage?
Explore the case context, sources and public responses.
More from this case
Read the full caseMS NOW
“MS NOW intends to take any and all steps necessary to defend our First Amendment rights and the essential role of independent journalism in our democracy.”Read statement
The White House
“The White House declined to comment further Saturday, referring NBC News to Trump’s previous comments.”Read statement
Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
“When the White House opens its doors to the press, it must comply with the First Amendment. The president is as free as any other person to criticize media coverage. But he can’t ban outlets from the White House just because he doesn’t like their reporting or commentary.”Read statement