Bill Clinton: ‘There were lots of times when I wanted to ban the White House press corps’

Former President Clinton rebuked President Trump’s attempted ban of three outlets from the White House last week, saying during his presidency, “There were lots of times when I wanted to ban the White House press corps.”

“I got news for the people who work in the White House today. There were lots of times when I wanted to ban the White House press corps,” he said at the Clinton Global Initiative 2026 summit . “And there’s a reason we have a constitution. Because none of us are immune from being pissed off.”

“But I’m glad I never did, and I’m glad I couldn’t. And these people shouldn’t. The law should be what it is,” the former president added.

His wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, called the ban against the three outlets “deeply disturbing,” in a Tuesday interview with The Washington Post .

“That is part of the give-and-take in not just politics, but democracy,” she said, continuing that such a ban is “unfortunately what authoritarians do.”

On Thursday, a judge ruled in favor of CNN, MS NOW, and Politico, ordering the White House to reverse its ban. Journalists from the three outlets were initially denied entry into the White House following the court’s ruling but were given access later in the day.

MS NOW and CNN journalists also reported Thursday they were denied access to the state dinner arrival at the White House during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the U.S., which was a precredentialed event.

Former President Obama has also weighed in on the controversy, stating at an event Monday night that he believed this issue “should not be a partisan issue” as this “should be something that rises above partisanship.”

Obama said he was not surprised by the ban, and it was as if “the president of the United States can’t take some criticism,” according to CNN .

“You do not have, as far as I can tell, any substantial group of Republicans who are standing up and saying, ‘No, you can’t do that, because we don’t want, if there’s a Democratic president, to be banning Fox News,’ or whatever other outlets that are going off on Democratic presidents,” he said.