Steve Scalise says he doesn’t know why Trump did it and that no president has been “more open to the press”
Steve ScaliseHouse Majority Leader (R-La.), interviewed on ABC’s This Week
Asked by ABC’s Jonathan Karl whether he supports Trump banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House and whether it violates the First Amendment, Scalise said he does not think there has been a president “more open to the press,” said “I don’t know why he did it. I don’t know what the background is,” and described Trump as taking questions from everyone. He did not say whether he supports the ban or whether it violates the First Amendment.
“first of all, I don't think we've had a president that's been more open to the press. … He’s a very open president. … Well, I don't know why he did it. I don't know what the background is. Look, when we have our press -- press conferences every week, the speaker, myself, our leadership team, we take questions from everybody. CNN's there, all of them. But the president takes those questions. I've never seen him turn a question down from anybody.”
Original text
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 text
About this source
ABC News' rush transcript of This Week for September 20, 2026, which ABC says may not be in final form. Jonathan Karl asks Scalise twice whether he supports the ban and whether it violates the First Amendment, and corrects Scalise's statement about the Biden administration.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Reporting
About this source
The Washington Times' roundup of Sunday-show remarks on the ban by Mike Waltz on CNN, Steve Scalise on ABC, Sen. John Barrasso on NBC, FIRE's Conor Fitzpatrick on ABC and Weijia Jiang on Fox News.
Before the quotation
Karl had opened: “Do you support him banning these news organizations because he doesn’t like what they’re reporting?” and later repeated: “Do you support him doing that? Do you think it violates the First Amendment?”
After the quotation
Scalise also said “Joe Biden removed the press credentials from over 400 different agencies.” Karl replied that this was “actually not true”: the 400 reporters “did not reapply,” only one was denied a credential, and none were “banned from the White House.” Karl then turned to the midterms.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
On Trump’s decision to exclude CNN, MS NOW and Politico from White House access because of their coverage, Scalise neither endorses nor rejects the ban. Asked twice whether he supports it and whether it violates the First Amendment, he answers with an assertion that Trump is unusually open to the press and says he does not know why the ban was imposed, which disputes the premise that the ban reflects hostility to the press without taking a substantive position on the ban itself. The closest competing labels are “Explicitly stayed out”, which loses because he makes an affirmative argument rather than only refusing to answer, and “Defended or excused”, which loses because he expressly says he does not know why Trump acted and never says the ban is justified.
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The Dispute Index. "Steve Scalise says he doesn’t know why Trump did it and that no president has been “more open to the press”". First published: 2026-09-21. Last updated: 2026-09-22. https://disputeindex.com/events/1325-asked-by-abc-s-jonathan-karl-whether-he