Marco Rubio
Role at the time: Secretary of State, interviewed on NBC's TODAY
Statement summary
Interviewed on NBC's TODAY, Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the exclusion of CNN, MS NOW and Politico, saying Trump is not closing them, that they can still cover the White House, and that they are not allowed to work from the workspace inside it.
“There aren't a bunch of police officers or soldiers kicking down the doors of MSNBC or MS NOW, whatever it's called, and arresting people and unplugging it from the grid. They're just not allowed to work from the workspace at the White House.”
NBC News report on Secretary of State Marco Rubio's Sept. 22, 2026 interview with Craig Melvin on NBC's TODAY. It quotes Rubio defending the exclusion of CNN, MS NOW and Politico, saying they can cover the White House but cannot have a desk there, and quotes his answer that pool coverage of him had not been discussed. NBC News is itself a participant in the pool dispute.
Why we used this label
Relative to Trump's decision to exclude CNN, MS NOW and Politico from White House access because of their coverage, Rubio defends it as a decision about White House workspace rather than a closure of the outlets, saying they can still cover the White House.