Florida Republican says Trump ‘has his own style’ in handling reporters covering the White House

Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) on Sunday said President Trump “has his own style” in handling reporters who cover him, defending his move to ban CNN, Politico and MS NOW ‘s reporters from the White House.

“I think that he has his own style and that he will determine who he wants to talk to, but with social media and with all the different outlets out there for people to receive information, I am sure that those journalists are going to be able to cover the president the way that you –– you know, free speech, the way you determine,” Salazar told CBS News’s Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation.”

Salazar, who worked for the Spanish-language outlet Telemundo for 30 years and worked at CNN Español and Univision, echoed other Republicans and administration officials by calling Trump “the most accessible president in [recent] years that has been talking to the media.”

“So he may not be allowing for some journalists to go into one place, but I’m sure that he’s got to be talking to everybody at some point,” she said. “That’s his style and he’s very accessible, not like [former President] Biden.”

The Florida Republican later suggested to Brennan that the “American school of journalism is not so vigorous as it was during the time that we started this career. So I have my different opinions as to what’s happening on television.”

Trump announced the ban via Truth Social on Friday, posting that it went into immediate effect “as a result of their constant ‘reportin’ FAKE NEWS!” He later warned that other outlets could be banned in the future.

All three outlets denounced the ban , as reporters from CNN, Politico and MS NOW were denied access to the White House grounds on Saturday.

Weijia Jiang, CBS News’s senior White House correspondent and former president of the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA), told her WHCA successor and “Fox News Sunday” host Jacqui Heinrich that the outlets’ response was “not a tantrum” over the ban but “a serious concern for the public.”

“Look, every administration, every president hates the press,” Jiang said. “There should be tension. We wouldn’t be doing our jobs and, neither would they, if there wasn’t that friction.”

Jiang warned that Trump drawing this “red line” opens the door for future administrations “who might do the same on the other side of it,” a possibility she called “worrisome.”

CNN telegraphed potential legal action if Trump made good on his promise to keep its reporters from the White House, while MS NOW stated that it will “take any and all steps necessary” to protect its reporters’ constitutional right to report on the president.

Politico pushed back on Trump’s claim, in the Truth Social post where he declared the ban, that Politico receives $8 million in government subsidies for its “Politico Pro subscription.” The outlet denied this, saying that these claims were “false and have been thoroughly debunked.”