President Donald Trump's move to ban several news outlets from the White House had an awkward consequence on Monday, when his speech at a televised ribbon-cutting ceremony could barely be heard after major networks boycotted the event. Footage broadcast by the conservative network Newsmax showed Trump speaking at the event to open a new White House helipad. But without the cameras and microphones normally provided by the White House TV press pool, his speech could not be heard.
"There's no microphone because the pool cameras aren't there," a Newsmax presenter said over the footage. "So maybe... this is one example of it backfiring just a little bit." Trump announced in a Truth Social post on Friday that he was banning CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House because of "their constant 'reporting' FAKE NEWS!" On Monday, other major networks said they had pulled out of pool duty in protest over the ban. "There will be no replacement pool put in place," said Bryan Boughton, the Fox News Washington bureau chief and chair of the TV pool, in a memo to the White House press corps, as seen by Politico.
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