The Latest: CNN, MS NOW and Politico say they’re suing over denied White House access
Sep 21, 2026, 5:38 AM
A worker waters plants on the North Lawn of the White House Monday, Sept. 21, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Credit: AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein
(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
CNN, MS NOW and Politico say they’ve notified President Donald Trump’s administration that they’re filing a lawsuit over being denied White House access. Reporters from the three major news organizations were blocked from the White House on Saturday, a day after Trump said he was barring them because of reporting he found to be “fake news.”
Meanwhile, Trump will meet with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani when Trump travels to the city for the upcoming U.N. General Assembly. The meeting is scheduled for Monday and at Gracie Mansion, the official mayoral residence. The two will discuss issues affecting the city and New Yorkers. The White House confirmed the meeting will take place but did not offer more details.
Here’s the latest:
The meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week in Washington could cover trade, artificial intelligence and geopolitics.
Futures for the S&P 500 gained 0.7% on Monday, while those for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8%. Nasdaq futures climbed 1.1%.
Oil prices fell more than 3% Monday as vessel traffic and energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz picked up, although the Strait has remained largely closed and uncertainty persisted over U.S.-Iran tensions. Saudi Arabia on Saturday confirmed that Yemen’s Houthi rebels tried to attack its capital with a ballistic missile, the first targeting of Riyadh since the escalation in fighting with the Tehran-backed rebels that’s opened a new front in the Iran war.
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Communism, President Donald Trump says, is the greatest threat the U.S. has ever faced.
This summer, citing similarly grave concerns, he took the rare step of delivering a primetime address to the nation, accusing China of “sinister election meddling” in 2020 and reviving his yearslong push to dispute his loss in that year’s election.
Even as Trump seeks to decry Democrats as communists ahead of November’s midterm elections, he’s rolling out the red carpet this week for Chinese President Xi Jinping, the leader of the world’s most powerful communist country.
The state visit comes as the president himself has increasingly directed his administration to take large stakes in private companies to try to stimulate the economy — something even some Republicans decry as corporate socialism.
The contradictions between Trump’s words and actions risk muddying Republican attack lines on Democrats.
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Trump will meet with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani when Trump travels to the city for the upcoming U.N. General Assembly.
The meeting is scheduled for Monday and at Gracie Mansion, the official mayoral residence, according to Anna Bahr, Mamdani’s communications director.
Bahr said the two will discuss issues affecting the city and New Yorkers. The White House confirmed the meeting will take place but did not offer more details.
Mamdani, a democratic socialist who upset former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary before winning the general election in November, has been a favorite and frequent political foil for Republicans.
But Trump has often been warm to Mamdani and seemed charmed by the young mayor. Their first meeting after Mamdani’s election was quite cordial, with Trump saying at the White House that the then-mayor-elect would “surprise some conservative people.” The Republican president had called Mamdani a “100% Communist Lunatic” during the 2025 campaign.
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CNN, MS NOW and Politico said Monday they’ve notified President Donald Trump’s administration that they’re filing a lawsuit over being denied White House access.
Reporters from the three major news organizations were blocked from the White House on Saturday, a day after Trump said he was barring them because of reporting he found to be “fake news.”
The actions were a clear escalation of Trump’s long-running efforts — in the courts and through administrative action — to restrict news coverage by journalists he finds objectionable and were the latest test of First Amendment protections in the United States. Trump had said Friday he would ban all three outlets because of coverage he disliked.
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