When CNN’s Erin Burnett wants to offer up a hot take, she launders it through former Trump lawyer-turned anti-Trump doomsday prophet Ty Cobb. Earlier this week, Burnett welcomed Cobb to spread baseless conspiracy theories about the upcoming midterms, while in August, she invited Cobb to compare the Trump DOJ to a cast of Nazis. This Friday, Cobb was more diverse in his dictator analogies as he suggested Trump’s effort to ban CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House was part of a Hitlerian, Stalinist, and Putinist dream to shut them down altogether.
Burnett began by putting the ball on the tee, “I want to go now to Ty Cobb. He's a former Trump White House lawyer. Ty, from a legal standpoint, does Trump have any basis to ban CNN, MS NOW, Politico? And he says more to come from the White House.”
Erin Burnett reacted to Trump banning CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House by welcoming Ty Cobb because of course she did. Cobb insisted that the move was part of some Hitlerian or Stalinist dream to not just ban them from the White House, but shut them down, "So he… pic.twitter.com/2x0M7gez3e
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) September 19, 2026
Cobb insisted that he does not, “No, he doesn't. And he knows that because he attempted to do it with the Associated Press earlier in this administration and was enjoined. And while the Court of Appeals limited that injunction somewhat to allow the president to not invite The Associated Press into the Oval Office or onto Air Force One, you know, isolated areas where not everybody is allowed on a routine basis, that they do have access and that their access to, you know, public spaces and public forums like press briefings, you know, was protected.”
He then got to analogizing, “So he knows he really can't do this like he intends to do it, but that's not going to stop him. You know, this is—you know, history is littered with—you know, people who have attempted to do this to the press from, you know, Hitler to Stalin to Idi Amin to Chavez, Orban, and Trump's idol Putin.”
Cobb then suggested the goal is not simply to ban them from the White House but to institute full-fledged state-controlled media, “They've all got state control. They all went for state-controlled media after they were able to delegitimize and shut out independent media. And that's his dream. I don't think it's going to come true. I think the courts will protect us. But we should not be surprised.”
Burnett did eventually play a clip of Trump saying that the three networks in question can continue to cover the news as they do, just from outside the White House, and wondered what Cobb’s reaction was. Cobb decided to focus on Trump’s verbal slip-up, where he initially said “my” before saying “the people’s house” and launching into an attack on Trump’s various White House renovation projects.
Here is a transcript for the September 18 show:
CNN Erin Burnett OutFront
9/18/2026
7:31 PM ET
ERIN BURNETT: I want to go now to Ty Cobb. He's a former Trump White House lawyer. Ty, from a legal standpoint, does Trump have any basis to ban CNN, MS NOW, Politico? And he says more to come from the White House.
TY COBB: No, he doesn't. And he knows that because he attempted to do it with the Associated Press earlier in this administration and was enjoined. And while the Court of Appeals limited that injunction somewhat to allow the president to not invite The Associated Press into the Oval Office or onto Air Force One, you know, isolated areas where not everybody is allowed on a routine basis, that they do have access and that their access to, you know, public spaces and public forums like press briefings, you know, was protected.
So he knows he really can't do this like he intends to do it, but that's not going to stop him. You know, this is—you know, history is littered with—you know, people who have attempted to do this to the press from, you know, Hitler to Stalin, to Idi Amin, to Chavez, Orban, and Trump's idol Putin.
They've all got state control. They all went for state-controlled media after they were able to delegitimize and shut out independent media. And that's his dream. I don't think it's going to come true. I think the courts will protect us. But we should not be surprised.
