New York Times spokesperson calls Trump's announcement "yet another retaliatory and unconstitutional threat"
The New York TimesNewspaper, in a statement by spokesperson Charlie Stadtlander posted by NYTimes Communications
In a statement posted by NYTimes Communications, spokesperson Charlie Stadtlander said the president's statement was yet another retaliatory and unconstitutional threat and that The Times stands in support of the news organizations being unfairly targeted.
“The president’s statement today is yet another retaliatory and unconstitutional threat. The Times stands in support of the news organizations being unfairly targeted by the president.”
Original post
Original video
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
Post from The Times's communications account quote-posting its breaking-news alert, posted 23:56:54 UTC on September 18, 2026. The spokesperson's statement is in the attached image's alt text; TheWrap carries the same wording.
Original video
About this source
Official White House video of the President's health-care event in the Oval Office on September 18, 2026, which began at about 3:38 PM EDT and ran 56 minutes. The quoted wording is our transcription of the video audio. Transcription adds punctuation but no words.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)President Trump speaks about The New York Times and The Washington Post at the Sept. 18, 2026 White House healthcare announcement.
Excerpt from 45:31 to 46:00 of the White House video. DI added its logo in the corner.
Video: The White House. Public domain (U.S. government work) (opens in a new tab)
Watch the full original video (opens in a new tab) (relevant passage: 45:33-45:58 of the White House video (Trump on The Times and The Washington Post))
Before the quotation
Trump said in the Oval Office that The New York Times and The Washington Post are "fake news", that "We're probably not going to display the paper anymore in the White House, those papers," and that "we haven't taken the step of throwing them out." The Times statement was posted at 7:56 PM EDT.
After the quotation
The statement is one of several institutional responses to the announcement on September 18 and 19.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The Times, which Trump named in the Oval Office as fake news and a possible next target, calls the announcement retaliatory and unconstitutional. The closest competing label is “Challenged the characterization”, because the statement is partly about how the administration treats the press generally. That loses because it expressly characterizes the announcement as unconstitutional retaliation and supports the targeted outlets.
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- Donald Trump
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- New York Times spokesperson calls Trump's announcement "yet another retaliatory and unconstitutional threat"
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- https://disputeindex.com/events/1145-in-a-statement-posted-by-nytimes-communications-spokesperson
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The Dispute Index. "New York Times spokesperson calls Trump's announcement "yet another retaliatory and unconstitutional threat"". First published: 2026-09-19. Last updated: 2026-09-22. https://disputeindex.com/events/1145-in-a-statement-posted-by-nytimes-communications-spokesperson