JB Pritzker calls Trump's announced exclusion of CNN, MS NOW and Politico an attack on the First Amendment
JB PritzkerGovernor of Illinois, posting on his verified X account and his Bluesky account
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker posted on X, quoting a post that reproduced the core of Trump's Truth Social announcement, and repeated the text on Bluesky with a screenshot of that post. He called the announcement yet another attack on the First Amendment and said Trump was acting against journalists he dislikes to keep the public from hearing about his record.
“This is yet another attack on the First Amendment”
Original post
Original post
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
First-party post from his X account (@JBPritzker, government-verified; name and bio match). Posted September 18, 2026, 19:47:33 UTC from Twitter Web App; it is not a reply. It is a quote-tweet of @atrupar status 2101025660806332752, which reproduces the core sentence of Trump's announcement (effective immediately, banning Fake News CNN, MSNOW and Politico from the White House over their constant 'reporting').
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Original post
About this source
Identical text on his Bluesky account (jbpritzker.bsky.social, Bluesky-verified).
Reporting
About this source
CNN Business story first published 3:40 PM EDT on September 18, 2026 and last modified 10:12 PM EDT. CNN is one of the three outlets, so its account of its own staff is an outlet's account.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
At 3:04 PM EDT on September 18, 2026, Trump posted on Truth Social that, effective immediately, he was banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House because of their coverage. Pritzker's X post, about 43 minutes later, quoted journalist Aaron Rupar's post reproducing the announcement.
After the quotation
CNN reported that Trump defended the announcement in the Oval Office that afternoon and that there was no indication the administration had taken steps to follow through as of Friday evening.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Pritzker, quoting a post that reproduced the announcement, calls it yet another attack on the First Amendment and says Trump is acting against journalists he dislikes to keep the public from hearing about his record, which rejects excluding the outlets. The closest competing label is “Challenged the characterization”, because the post also disputes Trump's stated reason by attributing a different motive. That loses because the motive claim supports, rather than replaces, an express condemnation of the act as an attack on the First Amendment.
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The Dispute Index. "JB Pritzker calls Trump's announced exclusion of CNN, MS NOW and Politico an attack on the First Amendment". First published: 2026-09-19. Last updated: 2026-09-22. https://disputeindex.com/events/1128-illinois-gov-jb-pritzker-posted-on-x-quoting