Justice Department Proves Networks Over White House Pool Cutoff

The Justice Department has launched a probe into whether ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and Fox News violated federal antitrust laws when they suspended their pool coverage of President Trump after the White House banned CNN, MS NBC and Politico, The New York Times reports. “Group boycotts among commercial competitors can violate the Sherman Act,” wrote Emily Covington, a spokesperson for the department. But William E. Kovacic, a former chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, commented, “The critical ingredient in successful antitrust cases is to demonstrate that there is unmistakably a commercial motive and that the commercial motive predominates. And I don’t think they would ever be able to do that here.”

Last updated Oct 12, 2026 by ATDb automated enrichment