Sunday Shows Preview: Trump bans 3 media outlets from White House; Parties make final cases as midterms approach

After President Trump announced this week he was banning Politico, CNN and MS NOW from accessing the White House, the three media outlets reported Saturday their journalists were denied access to the executive premises.

White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) President Jacqui Heinrich called on the White House to “immediately” restore access to these journalists and said the action constituted a First Amendment violation in a Saturday statement .

“The implications extend beyond these organizations: a standard used to exclude one news outlet because of its coverage could be applied to any outlet in the future,” said Heinrich, who is Fox News’s senior White House correspondent and co-host of “The Sunday Briefing” on the channel.

“The American people, through a free and independent press, must be able to scrutinize those elected to power, regardless of whether government officials view it favorably,” she continued.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D), a frequent critic of the president and his administration, also condemned the move in a Friday social media post .

“This is yet another attack on the First Amendment from a president who knows he and his party of bootlickers are deeply unpopular,” he wrote. “Donald Trump can’t hide from his failing record, so he’s banning journalists he doesn’t like to keep you from hearing about it.”

The Democratic governor will join ABC News’s “This Week” on Sunday.

The president continued to downplay concerns this week about rising costs amid his administration’s ongoing military operations against Iran.

The national average price of standard gas was around $4.48 per gallon on Saturday, up from about $3.20 a year ago, according to AAA . Additionally, diesel prices were up to around $6.49 a gallon on Saturday, after hitting an all-time high earlier this month.

On Wednesday, Trump said at a rally in North Carolina for U.S. Senate Republican nominee Michael Whatley that these hiked gas prices were a “very inexpensive price to pay” for this conflict.

Whatley, the former chair of the Republican National Committee, will join Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures” this weekend.

Republicans have expressed concerns that rising inflation could cost them at the ballot box this November, as polling indicates the economy is a top issue for voters headed into the midterm elections and Americans blame Trump for bad financial reports .

The president said on Thursday that he has a “big decision coming up” regarding the future of this monthslong conflict.

“Do I want to go in and annihilate them [the Iranian regime] or do I not? It’s a big decision,” Trump told Axios , adding, “Anything could happen with me.”

Next week, the president is set to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping for highly-anticipated discussions in Washington, D.C., following the pair’s May bilateral summit in Beijing.

Trump will greet Xi at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday following his address to the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York City a day before.

Mike Waltz, the U.S. Ambassador to the UN, will join CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday ahead of the body’s meeting.

Rising concerns about artificial intelligence continued to play into political discussions this week, after former AI company employees raised alarm about potential risks associated with this technology.

In a new POLITICO poll, 63 percent of surveyed U.S. adults said they believed that AI could one day destroy mankind. Seventeen percent of respondents said this result was “almost certain,” while others expressed less confidence in this outcome.

Democratic lawmakers and some Republicans have demanded more oversight and guardrails for this technology.

On Thursday, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) called on the president to convene a bicameral special session of Congress to address the issue of AI.

“The safety of artificial intelligence systems demands urgent attention,” he wrote on social media . “The President should convene Congress at once to address it. This is not a moment for panic or despair. It is a moment for government to govern.”

Booker will join NBC News’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.

Trump has repeatedly downplayed concerns about the potential threats posed by this technology. On Saturday, the president announced that he would appoint an AI “Czar.”

“Only High I.Q. individuals need apply!” he wrote in a Truth Social post . “AI is the next Industrial Revolution, or Internet, but will be even larger and more impactful, possibly as much as 25% of our Country’s GDP. We are leading China, and the rest of the World, and I intend to keep it that way!”

Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, echoed the president’s warnings about competition with China on this technology.

“AI is the most transformative technology of our lifetime,” he wrote in a Saturday social media post . “America must win the race for AI and energy dominance. We cannot afford to fall behind China.”

The Republican senator is scheduled to appear on Fox News’s “Fox News Sunday.”

Additionally, several states are taking steps to impose restrictions on the development of new data centers amid concerns that the water and energy usage of these facilities.

On Friday, Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) and Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo (R) separately announced new requirements for data centers in their states.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) said on Thursday he would “absolutely sign” a statewide moratorium on new data centers if a measure was brought to his desk. The Democrat will join “State of the Union” on Sunday.

See the full list of guests on the Sunday morning news shows below:

NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday”: Minnesota U.S. Senate candidate Michele Tafoya (R), Arkansas U.S. Senate candidate Hallie Shoffner (D)

CBS News’s “Face the Nation”: Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.), former Trump economic adviser Gary Cohn

CNN’s “State of the Union”: Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D), U.S. Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz

Fox News’s “Fox News Sunday”: Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.), Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), White House Science and Technology Director Michael Kratsios

NBC News’s “Meet the Press”: Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wy.), Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), comedian Hasan Minhaj

Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures”: Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari, North Carolina U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley (R)

ABC News’s “This Week”: Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D), House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.)