The Justice Department's Antitrust Division is investigating the five networks that make up the White House television pool, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN and Fox News, over their temporary refusal to provide pool coverage of Trump after the White House banned CNN, and sent “civil investigative demands” on Friday, October 9, 2026, a department official told NBC News. The New York Times first reported the inquiry.
“Members of the television press pool have boycotted covering White House events. 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,” department spokeswoman Emily Covington said. CNN reported that the probe came two weeks after Trump ally Laura Loomer publicly urged the department to challenge the networks on antitrust grounds.
Jonathan Kanter, who ran the Antitrust Division under Biden, told CNN, “This is not even in the same zip code of an antitrust violation,” and, “It's literally freedom of speech.” The probe extends the administration's fight with the press over the White House ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico (see Trump Bans CNN, MS NOW and Politico From the White House, and the Next Morning the Secret Service Took Their Reporters' Badges).