CNN spent years selling Russiagate to America as an established fact.
Now Jake Tapper is on television begging a Trump ambassador to let his network back into the White House.
But Ambassador Mike Waltz shut Jake Tapper down after he begged him to lobby Trump on CNN’s behalf.
CNN Made Its Bed and Waltz Reminded Tapper of That
Trump pulled CNN's press credentials earlier this month, along with MS NOW and Politico, citing years of fabricated narratives and anonymous sources used to undermine national security.
The other four TV pool networks – ABC, CBS, Fox News, and NBC – initially refused to provide pool coverage in solidarity, then quietly resumed by Friday after the White House launched its own YouTube streaming channel and went around all of them.
CNN did not resume.
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2104227125402235224?s=20
A judge issued a temporary restraining order restoring White House grounds access for all three banned outlets – but CNN remains locked out of the actual press pool.
Tapper interviewed UN Ambassador Mike Waltz on State of the Union Sunday and closed by publicly begging Waltz to lobby Trump on CNN's behalf.
"I would just ask if you could please convey to President Trump to let CNN back in the pool," Tapper said.
He then cited the Obama administration's 2009 attempt to freeze Fox News out of pool coverage as a warning about what happens when presidents decide who covers them.
He's not wrong about 2009.
Obama's White House – with Jen Psaki running communications – deliberately tried to exclude Fox News from a Treasury Department interview with pay czar Kenneth Feinberg.
Internal emails later obtained by Judicial Watch showed Psaki wrote she was putting "dead fish in the Fox cubby" and Josh Earnest boasted the White House had "demonstrated our willingness and ability to exclude Fox News from significant interviews."
The other networks refused to participate without Fox.
Obama backed down.
But here's what Tapper left out.
The Part of 2009 Tapper Forgot to Mention
Tapper was at ABC in 2009 when Psaki was sending those emails.
He said nothing.
He didn't warn about presidents deciding who gets to cover them.
He watched Obama's team call Bret Baier a "lunatic" for reporting on the exclusion, threaten Fox with dead fish, and brag about their willingness to freeze out a network – and decided none of it rose to the level of concern.
Now it's his network on the outside, and suddenly it's a constitutional crisis.
Waltz didn't play along.
"I hear you, Jake, but I think we need fair and objective and well-sourced reporting," Waltz replied.
He pointed to specific failures – stories whitewashing Biden's cognitive decline, anonymous sources referencing a recently deceased senator, narratives constructed to fit predetermined conclusions.
He also noted that The Washington Post and The New York Times – neither of which runs pro-Trump coverage – still have their credentials.
"President Trump is quite frustrated," Waltz said. "And by the way, there are over 50 seats in the press room. So that's a false narrative that it's about negative reporting. We need fair and objective reporting for the country."
Tapper pushed back, quoting Trump's statement that there's something wrong when outlets report things that are "purposely negative."
Waltz held firm.
The interview ended.
CNN is still out of the pool.
Psaki Went From "Dead Fish" to CNN to Biden's Press Secretary
Here's the part that should make your head explode.
https://twitter.com/GOP_is_Gutless/status/2104260826588713331?s=20
Jen Psaki – the woman who literally wrote that she was putting dead fish in Fox News's cubby, who bragged about the Obama White House's willingness to exclude a network – became a CNN contributor after leaving the Obama administration.
CNN paid her.
Then she became Biden's press secretary.
Then she came back to CNN.
Tapper's network hired the architect of the last Democrat press suppression campaign, gave her a platform for years, and is now citing that same 2009 episode as proof that presidents shouldn't decide who covers them.
The network that employed Jen Psaki is lecturing America about press freedom.
Waltz was right to hold firm.
Sources:
- C. Douglas Golden, "Desperate Jake Tapper Begs Ambassador to Plead His Case to Trump and Let CNN Back Into Press Pool, Gets Rejected Live on Air," The Western Journal, September 30, 2026.
- "Trump Ban on CNN, MS NOW & Politico Is Overturned by Judge," TV Insider, September 24, 2026.
- "Networks Stop TV Pool Coverage of Donald Trump as Banned Outlets Sue Over Censorship," The Advocate, September 21, 2026.
- "A White House Press Ban Was Lifted This Week But the Tensions and Legal Battle Aren't Over Yet," KTAR News, September 2026.
- "New Emails Shed Light on 2009 Fox News, White House Spat," NPR/Judicial Watch, July 2011.
- "White House Targeted Fox News," The Daily Beast, 2011.