MS NOW's Peter Alexander Celebrates Barred Reporters Reentering WH After Previous Worry

Nicholas Spinnato
September 24th, 2026 3:05 PM

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After MS NOW and other outlets regained press passes to enter White House grounds on Thursday, MS NOW’s coverage of the news was about as self-congratulatory and self-centered as expected. Former NBC White House reporter Peter Alexander helmed the coverage on his new midday show, with praise for current MS NOW reporter Laura Barron-Lopez, who was heavily featured by the network as a hero after she had her White House access restored after being denied earlier in the day.

Reporters from MS NOW and CNN were allowed back into the White House complex just before Noon Eastern, and both networks followed by making themselves heroes of the First Amendment.

Before the celebration, there were still moments of worry on the progressive network.

 

 

On Money, Power, Politics earlier in the day, fill-in host Erielle Reshef asked New York Times reporter Peter Baker, “In your mind, given your years of experience, given the fact that, you know, the White House Press Corps very well, is the damage already done? Has it already sort of left a trail of fear for journalists about reporting on this president, or will there be that resolve to continue to report without fear or favour?”

 

 

Also, in the hour of Alexander’s State of Play before reporters were allowed back in, there was more worry that the MS NOW and CNN reporters would not be let in. After a camera was on a Barron-Lopez interaction witha  Secret Service agent at the White House gate, Alexander first revealed she was still not let inside the White House near 11:30 AM.

But, as it neared Noon, the MS NOW nightmare was over as a chyron read “MS NOW Journalists Start Regaining Access to WH Grounds.”

 

 

Then at the start of an extended portion of Alexander’s show, he exclaimed, “Some MS NOW journalists are just now regaining access to the White House. Happening as we have been speaking right now, my colleague Laura Barron-Lopez, who we spoke to within the last five minutes outside the Gates, is now on site.”

After Barron-Lopez spoke with the White House behind her, Alexander responded nd wondered if the later reinstatement fo the press passes was deliberate or a computer “lag.”

As Alexander moved to talk to other panelists, he noted a photographer aiming his camera towards the journalists "because now, all of a sudden, the First Amendment and journalists have become the story when our job, as we know on any normal day, is to go the other direction and talk to the principals, the White House officials there.” He added, “This is really just a nutty day that we're witnessing.”

 

 

Alexander continued, after talking to MS NOW legal analyst Andrew Weissman, who compared the ban to 1930s Germany earlier this week, with his own self-connection as a White House reporter while he seemed emotional: 

This is a lot to try to digest. And honestly, as a point of personal privilege, this is like striking to me because this was my routine for most of 14 years going in. You know, you engage with those lower press, those wranglers. I never saw the White House Counsel, as you note, come down. I guess that would have been very feasible if there was an order and an urgency on a matter of this kind, certainly with a Chinese President, America's foreign adversary, largest rival in the world, on White House soil. But this is just it's just stunning the way this has all been playing out.

Close to the end of the special extended show, where Alexander presumably is in a TV truck near the playing of the Presidents Cup doing work for the Golf Channel, a fellow Versant-owned property, he gave another mini monologue: 

I think I can speak for all three of us when I say none of us want to be covering a story about the press or press freedom or the First Amendment. We're there, we're covering this with a desire to cover the President's visit with Xi Jinping today, because Americans deserve to see the president of the free world with the President of China. They can make up their own decisions about whether this is about pomp and pageantry or about policy and how the president is handling it here.

After he insisted the media did not want to be the story, Alexander closed his show after an interview with Oliver Darcy by saying thanking Darcy for being part of “what has been a developing breaking news story here on MS NOW where, on this rare occasion, MS NOW is part of the story.”

The transcript is below. Click "expand":

MS NOW’s Money, Power, Politics

September 24. 2026

9:15:31 AM Eastern

ERIELLE RESHEF: So, Peter, to sum us up here. In your mind, given your years of experience, given the fact that, you know, the white house press corps very well, is the damage already done? Has it already sort of left a trail of fear for journalists about reporting on this president, or will there be that resolve to continue to report without fear or favour?

PETER BAKER: Well, I was struck that the five networks that provide pool coverage decided to band together and say they weren't going to provide cameras in solidarity. I think that's a pretty important moment. We haven't seen that kind of resolve before in that collective sense on the part of the media. So, I was heartened by that. I think that's important. I think it sent a message. 

Look, we understand this is a president who's going to use whatever tools he can to go after us. He has sued the BBC, he sued the Wall Street Journal, he sued us at the New York Times. He's used the FCC. He sent subpoenas. He sent FBI agents to the homes of some of our reporters to deliver subpoenas. One of our reporters' mother's phone records were subpoenaed. You know, this is - we get that right. So, we understand that. 

And the reason why this is important, putting aside the access for MS Now and Politico and CNN, which are the organizations currently at issue. The message is if you stray, if you write something I don't like, if you air something that makes me mad, I can throw you out. So that's the precedent that we're setting here. We're saying that a president gets to decide who covers him, and that has real impact going forward if this if the judge's order isn't upheld, because it means any president can do that with any news organization. If you're a different organization who wants to cover a Democratic Administration in the future and angers a Democratic President, they're going to be able to do the same thing if this precedent holds. And you don't want to be able to go, you don't want to say to news organizations going to the white house, you're only allowed in here at the sufferance of the president. That's not what an independent and free press is about.

RESHEF: And it seems the judge is signaling that he agrees.

(...)

MS NOW’s State of Play with Peter Alexander

11:59:56 AM Eastern

PETER ALEXANDER: This is a special hour of State of Play. I'm Peter Alexander. We're going to stick with it. Some MS NOW journalists are just now regaining access to the White House. Happening as we have been speaking right now, my colleague Laura Barron-Lopez, who we spoke to within the last five minutes outside the Gates, is now on site. 

Laura, if you hear me, I want to get to you right away for the latest in what your experience has been.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Yeah, I hear you Peter. So, I was just allowed back into the White House through the northwest gate. I had to go through that outside perimeter that you saw me referencing so many times earlier this morning. Showed my ID. They said that I was in the system. I came to the northwest gate - There you see me when they first cleared me through that outer perimeter. And then I arrived at the northwest gate, showed my government ID again, and was returned my badge. 

I have it now with me, that was confiscated earlier this morning, and I was just - immediately came straight to the camera to inform everyone that we have been restored. I have been restored my access, and I believe that others on our team are being restored their access as well as I speak. 

And so this is the North Lawn right on Pebble Beach that we've been talking about a lot as well, where so many foreign heads of state come through here, as well as different administration officials. And we often, at the end of the lawn, closer to the West Wing, we often will talk to them, and they will come and speak to the press at what's called the sticks. so now, hopefully throughout the day, if any administration officials come to speak about the ongoing state visit by the Chinese president, XI jInping, we will be able to be there and to ask the necessary questions.

ALEXANDER: Laura, stay with me. First of all, good news. I'm glad you're inside. I'm glad the process has played out. It's not clear how deliberate this was, or if, very likely, it's possible that this was a lag in the computer system, but it was a significant lag that took more than 12 hours after this ruling for you to be allowed back in. 

There is now a separate issue to be addressed, which is the issue of the pool, because the president is holding events today where the pool those five network outlets take turns as representatives, not of their own outlet, but of the press body at large, of the outlets and others around the world with whom they share information, whether they are going to be entering the events that happened today. I believe today was ABC's day to serve as the pool. ABC is in the room, or I should say, is in the building. But as part of this shared decision, they were not agreeing to carry it unless CNN was allowed back in the pool for events when its turn came as well. Is there any update on whether that has been resolved?

No, I believe that as of right now, the last I checked before being allowed to come back into the white house was that there was no update on whether or not CNN was going to be able to be in the pool, in their place in the pool. And of course, as you laid out, they have made clear that unless CNN is restored that additional access to the pool, then the outlets are going to move in solidarity, meaning that they will not be participating in pool coverage of the president. 

ALEXANDER: Right

BARRON-LOPEZ: And so, again, that would be a continued media stoppage on covering the president in those intimate settings when he is making key movements, when he is holding these key meetings and getting that direct footage of the president. And as you know, Peter, earlier this week, when this all started taking effect, the president did not have the pool with him. They were not there when he was announcing the opening and the finishing of his helipad on the South Lawn of the white house.

And you couldn't hear the audio from the president in those images, because, again, there is a lot of resources and technical expertise that goes into bringing all of these minute-by-minute, day-by-day updates on the movements of the president of the United States.

ALEXANDER: Laura Barron-Lopez, there on what we call Pebble Beach. Those who have worked there, those who have taken a tour, you know what I'm talking about. Beneath those green tents where we do our live shots. Laura, just stay with me. 

What I was struck by is, while you were speaking, we saw a lot of the cameras, including Andy Harnik. He is a member of the White House Correspondents Association, represents the Associated Press, shooting their cameras, taking photos, the other direction shooting toward the left where the entrance is because now, all of a sudden, the First Amendment and journalists have become the story when our job, as we know on any normal day, is to go the other direction and talk to the principals, the White House officials there. This is really just a nutty day that we're witnessing. Thank you for your reporting.

(...)

12:10:57 PM Eastern

ALEXANDER: This is a lot to try to digest. And honestly, as a point of personal privilege, this is like striking to me because this was my routine for most of 14 years going in. You know, you engage with those lower press, those wranglers. I never saw the White House Counsel, as you note, come down. I guess that would have been very feasible if there was an order and an urgency on a matter of this kind, certainly with a Chinese President, America's foreign adversary, largest rival in the world, on White House soil. But this is just it's just stunning the way this has all been playing out.

(...)

12:17:11 PM Eastern

ALEXANDER: So, step one appears to be done, which is your ability to get back onto the White House grounds. Step two remains unanswered, which is whether the pool will be able to shoot the president's events. And that's a function of whether the White House lets CNN participate in this pool. Right? What's the vibe?

BARRON-LOPEZ: Right. Well, we are all waiting to hear whether or not CNN is going to be granted access back into the pool, which they have been a part of. And if they are not, then our understanding is that those five outlets are going to maintain that solidarity and moving in unison and saying that they will not then cover the president in the pool. 

(...)

12:20:10 PM Eastern

ALEXANDER: Laura Barron-Lopez, Jake Traylor. The good news is you both have been granted access - it’s been restored to enter the White House. I think I can speak for all three of us when I say none of us want to be covering a story about the press or press freedom or the First Amendment. We're there, we're covering this with a desire to cover the President's visit with Xi Jinping today, because Americans deserve to see the president of the free world with the President of China. They can make up their own decisions about whether this is about pomp and pageantry or about policy and how the president is handling it here. But I appreciate you sharing your experience, and I want to let you get back to some of the reporting on the grounds while you're there. Thank you both.

(...)

12:23:46 PM Eastern

ALEXANDER: Oliver Darcy, the founder of Status. Oliver, I appreciate you sharing your reporting with us as well. Being a part of our coverage of what has been a developing breaking news story here on MS NOW, where on this rare occasion, MS NOW is a part of the story. 

We appreciate you sticking with us as this news has unfolded. The white house, we should note, just responded to the federal judge, Judge Kelly. On the Line with Alicia Menendez will pick that up right after this break with their statement. Stay here.

(...)

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