The White House app climbed to No. 1 in the App Store’s news category just one day after the Trump administration launched Trump TV, the White House said Wednesday. The 24-hour YouTube livestream debuted Monday, three days after President Donald Trump barred CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House. On Tuesday, the White House app climbed into the Top 20 among all apps—and No. 1 in the news category.
As of Wednesday evening, the app dipped to No. 2. The app, which launched in May, has a 4.9 out of 5 average rating in the App Store and more than 2 million downloads across the store and Google Play, according to the White House. In response to a request for Trump TV viewership figures, the White House referred Newsweek to a press release highlighting the White House app’s performance.
A YouTube spokesperson referred Newsweek to the White House for analytics. Labeled “The Essentials Station,” the network features videos of Trump and his administration, with the White House describing it as a place to watch its “biggest moments all in one place.” The stream includes top videos, major remarks and selected highlights, which are available around the clock. That programming does not necessarily mirror the White House's live schedule.
ET Wednesday, for example, the White House streamed live video of Trump and first lady Melania Trump welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping with a rare planeside greeting at Joint Base Andrews. Trump TV did not carry the welcome live. Instead, it was showing footage from May, when Xi hosted Trump at a welcoming banquet at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, including comments from Trump.
Replayed footage of Wednesday's welcome appeared on Trump TV a few minutes later. The launch comes amid an ongoing rift between the administration and White House press corps. On Wednesday, a judge heard arguments in a lawsuit brought by CNN, MS NOW and Politico seeking to restore their access to the White House, but did not issue a ruling from the bench.
On Monday, CNN, MS NOW and Politico sued the Trump administration in federal court, seeking to restore their access to the White House. The outlets argued that the ban violated their First Amendment rights and challenged the administration’s decision to revoke their press access. "We notified the government that we are filing a lawsuit today to protect our First Amendment rights and defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes,” CNN, Politico and MS Now said in a joint statement.
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