The Trump Justice Department has opened an antitrust investigation into five of the nation’s largest television networks after they acted together to suspend pooled coverage of President Donald Trump. ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, and Fox News are all facing scrutiny over the coordinated move. The department wants to determine whether the networks’ refusal to provide shared footage amounted to an unlawful group boycott by commercial competitors. Civil investigative demands seeking information about the White House television pool were sent Friday, October 9th, 2026.
The dispute began after the Trump administration barred CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House grounds in September, citing what the president called “their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS!” CNN had also been removed from a scheduled position in the television pool rotation. The remaining networks, including Fox News, declined to replace CNN and temporarily stopped providing pooled television coverage of presidential events. CNN, MS NOW, and Politico responded to the restrictions by filing a lawsuit against the administration.
The television pool is a cooperative system in which the participating networks rotate responsibility for recording the president’s appearances and travel. Whichever network is on duty distributes its video and audio to the other members and numerous subscribing outlets. The arrangement reduces costs and provides footage from locations where space or security restrictions prevent every organization from sending its own camera crew. Newsmax, One America News Network, C-SPAN, and international news organizations are among the outlets that use material produced by the pool.
As NBC News reported, the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division is examining whether the networks crossed a legal line when they coordinated the temporary suspension. Department spokeswoman Emily Covington confirmed that the investigation is underway after officials issued demands for information. “Members of the television press pool have boycotted covering White House events,” Covington said. “Group boycotts among commercial competitors can violate the Sherman Act. The Antitrust Division is simply investigating to determine whether these news organizations have violated the antitrust laws.”
The Sherman Act prohibits certain agreements among businesses that unlawfully restrain competition, placing the networks’ internal communications and decision-making at the center of the inquiry. The investigation concerns their coordinated suspension of coverage rather than the decades-old pool arrangement itself. During the suspension, individual networks continued reporting on White House events that were open to the broader press, but the shared camera feed was unavailable for several presidential appearances. The five networks said in a joint statement, “The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting.”
A federal judge later ordered the Trump administration to restore the three barred organizations’ access temporarily, and pooled television coverage resumed. The lawsuit alleged that the restrictions violated the First Amendment and the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause. The judge’s temporary order found that the organizations had shown a likelihood of success on their procedural due process claim. The underlying fight continued over access to smaller venues and presidential travel, including the Oval Office and Air Force One. The Justice Department’s document demands created a separate legal front focused on the actions taken by the networks themselves.
Watch CNN’s coverage of the dispute here:
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ABC News told NBC that it hadn’t received a notification from the Justice Department at the time of the report but expected to receive one. Representatives for NBC, CBS, and CNN declined to comment. Fox News didn’t immediately respond. Fox’s inclusion means a network frequently viewed as friendlier toward Trump joined its liberal competitors in the pool decision and now faces the same federal scrutiny.
The investigation remains in its evidence-gathering stage, with the civil demands allowing the department to seek documents and communications concerning the networks’ coordinated response. The Justice Department hasn’t filed an antitrust case, and no network has been accused of committing a crime. Investigators are examining how the suspension was organized, what the networks agreed to do, and whether their actions unlawfully restricted competition. The department said its Antitrust Division is determining whether the news organizations violated federal antitrust law.
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video.