Lydia Moynihan of the New York Post and former Trump press secretary Sean Spicer pushed back on Saturday against CNN host Abby Phillip’s implication that Trump is the most grievous offender of press freedom, and that you can’t change the subject to Biden – whose press shop energetically ignored and suppressed New York Post White House reporter Steven Nelson for years.
On CNN's "Table For Five," host Abby Phillip pushes back on Lydia Moynihan's point that the New York Post was suppressed/ignored by the Biden White House, insisting they never lost press passes.
OK, so Steven Nelson could get inside the gates -- and then be ignored. But Team… pic.twitter.com/1vNJEXXM2o— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) September 27, 2026
LYDIA MOYNIHAN: I find this reaction just so maudlin, and there's so much revisionist history. Every single president has tried to censor media they don't like. Biden was constantly kicking out the New York Post events. There were lots of conservative outlets.
ABBY PHILLIP: Did Biden -- did Biden take away the press passes of New York Post reporters?
MOYNIHAN: At various points, they were not invited to certain events.
PHILLIP: Wait. Hold on. Did they -- but did he take away the press passes and prevent them from covering the White House press conference?
MOYNIHAN: They were not allowed to come to certain events.
PHILLIP: You're not answering my question. Did he take away the press passes?
MOYNIHAN: I mean --
ADAM MOCKLER, Meidas Touch: That's what blanket means in this situation.
MOYNIHAN: The press passes are reinstated.
Moynihan added Trump is “the most accessible president. I would guess probably half of us have his number at this table. A lot more accessible than Biden.” They didn't get to the New York Post having their social-media accounts suspended in the last weeks of the 2020 election over the Hunter Biden laptop story. That's far more censored than CNN has been in the last few days.
CNN never cares when reporters from conservative-leaning outlets are sidelined or insulted by Democrat presidents and/or press secretaries. They didn’t care when President Biden called Fox’s Peter Doocy a “stupid son of a bitch.”
This is where Spicer broke out on X: “Yes, Biden stripped the press passes of 440 independent journalists.” PolitiFact tried to claim that it was “False” to point this out, when it wasn’t False, it was Slightly (D)ifferent.
Phillip responded soon after.: “Lol @Seanspicer, Google is free!” she posted, along with a link to an Associated Press “fact check” comparing Trump’s press ban to Biden’s ’23 move.
The AP “fact check” article by Melissa Goldin typically claimed what's true is false:
CLAIM: The Biden administration revoked the White House press passes of more than 400 journalists.
THE FACTS: This is false. In 2023, the White House revised its policy for obtaining long-term press passes. All journalists holding such passes were required to apply for a renewal under new criteria. This led to a drop in the number of journalists who had one.
Like PolitiFact, AP's Goldin admits there were 442 fewer press passes. So creating new conditions so that press passes could be revoked is not “revoking” press passes. It is not the same as Trump’s ban, but it’s revoking press passes. The difference is which reporters were affected.
Spicer responded to Phillip’s response with his own “lol” tweet: “Name another time when the WH ‘expired’ all the badges and then changed the criteria to ensure independent journalists could not qualify,” Spicer said. “The only reason you care now is because it’s CNN. When it’s someone else your concern for press freedom & the 1st Amendment is harder to find than a Trump supporter on CNN.”
