US Treasury blocks certain journalists from G20 meeting in North
Carolina
[August 31, 2026]
By BEN FINLEY
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Treasury Department is preventing certain
journalists from covering a finance meeting among the world's most
powerful countries, the latest example of how President Donald Trump's
administration has restricted media access.
Individual reporters from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal
and Bloomberg News were not granted credentials to the Group of 20
finance ministers' meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, the Times
reported.
The Treasury has not explained the decision. Treasury Secretary Scott
Bessent told The Associated Press in an interview Sunday that “it has
nothing to do with point of view.”
The reporters who've been denied access include the Times' Alan
Rappeport, who has been covering such meetings and the Treasury
Department since 2017. However, another reporter for the Times, Berlin
bureau chief Jim Tankersley, is allowed to attend.
The Times said in a statement that denying American journalists access
to an event in the U.S. is “not just another disturbing effort by the
administration to undermine independent journalism, but a blatant
attempt to evade public scrutiny.”
“With the war in Iran, sanctions, the bond markets, and inflation on the
agenda for the G20 finance ministers, the stakes of this gathering are
significant for the global economy and the American people,” the Times
said. "Excluding specific reporters and entire news organizations is a
disservice to the public and an assault on press freedoms that we
strongly condemn.”
Bloomberg News, in a story published Sunday evening, said “numerous”
journalists from the news agency, including some based in Europe and
Asia, had their accreditation requests rejected. It said denying the
agency access to the meeting “undermines media freedom and public
accountability.”
The Wall Street Journal declined to comment.
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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent departs after speaking at a news
conference, Monday, Aug. 24, 2026, at the Treasury Department in
Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Bessent is hosting the G20 meeting, which runs Saturday through
Tuesday. It includes finance ministers, central bank governors and
senior officials from the world's top economies. This year's G20
summit, which involves heads of state, is being held in December at
Trump's golf club in Doral, Florida.
Tensions have been escalating between the U.S. media and the second
Trump administration, playing out both in the public arena and at
times in the courts.
For example, the Defense Department declared earlier this year that
its press office had become a classified space inaccessible to
journalists. The ouster came after the Pentagon had demanded that
reporters agree to government-imposed restrictions on their work,
prompting most news outlets to leave the building last fall.
The Associated Press has also sued Trump over access to the White
House press pool. The news organization's access was curtailed for
sticking with the name “Gulf of Mexico” after the administration
ordered it rechristened the “Gulf of America.”
—-
Associated Press writer Fatima Hussein in Asheville, N.C.,
contributed to this report.
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