The White House has launched a streaming channel known as “Trump TV”, providing viewers with continuous access to content featuring President Donald Trump and his administration.
The channel, titled “TRUMP TV: The Essentials Station”, was launched on Monday and features past presidential moments, administration announcements and the latest developments from the White House. The White House has also made the stream available through its official website and YouTube channel.
Announcing the launch in a post, the White House said the stream would be updated in real time.
“Not every big moment has made it on your tv, now it can,” the White House said.
The launch came amid an escalating dispute between the Trump administration and several US media organisations over access to the White House.
On Friday, Trump announced that CNN, MS NOW and Politico would be barred from the White House, accusing the outlets of publishing what he described as “fiction” and “lies” about his administration. Reporters from the three organisations were subsequently denied access to the White House grounds.
In response, the five television networks that make up the White House TV press pool — ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC — suspended their pooled coverage of the President.
The networks said they would not provide a replacement crew after CNN was prevented from carrying out its scheduled role in the pool.
In a joint statement, the networks said the public had an interest in receiving independent information about the government and that no administration should restrict a news organisation because of its reporting.
CNN, MS NOW and Politico also filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration on Monday, seeking to restore their access to the White House and challenging the restrictions on constitutional grounds.
Trump, meanwhile, criticised the media organisations, describing them as “Third Rate Clowns” and the “Crooked and Corrupt Press” and accusing them of trivialising his administration’s achievements.
The latest dispute follows earlier changes by the Trump administration to the White House press-access system.
In February, the White House announced that it would take control of the press pool that provides access to the President, a system that had traditionally been managed by the White House Correspondents’ Association.
The administration also barred Associated Press reporters and photographers from certain restricted-access areas after the news agency continued to use the term “Gulf of Mexico” rather than the administration’s preferred “Gulf of America”. AP subsequently filed a lawsuit over the restriction, which remains ongoing.
The launch of Trump TV provides the White House with its own direct streaming platform at a time when the traditional television pool has suspended its shared coverage of presidential events.