Marine One loses communication with air traffic controllers again
Marine One (L) carrying U.S. President Donald Trump lifts off from The Ellipse near the White House en route to Joint Base Andrews on Aug. 27, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Presidential helicopter Marine One lost communication with air traffic controllers at Reagan National Airport for the second time this month, according to audio reviewed by ABC News.
The incident occurred on Thursday, just one hour after federal officials released a report saying the problem was fixed.
President Donald Trump was about to take off from the White House Ellipse when Marine One pilots gave a three-minute warning to controllers, but in air traffic control audio another helicopter can be heard relaying the information to the tower after controllers failed to respond.
Moments later, a controller can be heard saying she did not hear anything from Marine One.
“Marine One is trying to reach you. Three minutes to lift,” a nearby helicopter pilot said to the tower.
“Oh I couldn’t hear any of that. Thank you,” a controller responded.
A few minutes later, Marine One tried to contact the tower two more times, but the controller didn’t hear the transmission and asked another chopper in the air if they can hear Marine One.
“Hey Nighthawk 8, do me a favor, I can’t hear Marine One,” the controller said. If you hear Marine One can you let me know?”
Once Marine One lifted off from the Ellipse, it regained communication ability with the tower and proceeded to take Trump to Joint Base Andrews, where he boarded Air Force One.
A similar incident happened on Aug. 4, when Marine One took off at the same time an American Airlines regional jet was lifting off from nearby Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA).
The two aircraft came within .82 miles and 700 feet vertically, but were not on a collision course. Normally all air traffic is held until the president’s helicopter is out of the area.
FAA rules require that commercial aircraft maintain a minimum of 1.5 miles horizontal separation and 500 feet vertical separation from any helicopter passing near DCA.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Administration launched an investigation. FAA engineers determined that a radio transmitter did not allow line of sight to Marine One’s temporary landing area on the White House Ellipse. The temporary landing zone is being used while White House construction takes place on the South Lawn.
The FAA moved the transmitter to the top of the control tower at Reagan National Airport from a local residential area. Tests conducted following the move showed Marine One had no further communication issues, according to the NTSB report released Thursday.
The FAA released a statement to ABC News, but did not explain how this happened again.
“The FAA took immediate action following the Aug. 4 incident involving Marine One, including relocating an antenna to improve communications between DCA air traffic controllers and Marine One pilots and reviewing the procedures involved,” the agency said. “The three-minute notification was communicated by alternate means, acknowledged by a controller and positive contact was established with Marine One before takeoff.”
The Lincoln Memorial is seen on June 20, 2026 in Washington, DC. The National Park Service continues to work to control and remove the algae bloom that has turned the pool green following the Trump Administration’s recent $14 million repair, resealing and painting project. (Photo by Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Three-time U.S. Olympian David Hearn told ABC News that police arrested him on Friday after he touched a piece of blue coating that was partially detached from the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
Hearn said he went on a bike ride on Friday afternoon and stopped by the Reflecting Pool as a “curious, concerned citizen”. Given his background in materials science, Hearn says he was interested to see the situation for himself after reading about reports of algae in the water and paint peeling off.
“I saw a piece of this loose end of this blue coating … I reached out and touched the end of that piece that was loose but still attached to the bottom,” Hearn told ABC News. “I was able to reach out and touch the edge of that that was still attached at the bottom and handled it a little bit.”
Hearn, who represented the U.S. in canoeing, said he was able to feel and bend the coating a bit.
“I did not remove, I did not damage, I did not rip, tear, break, destroy or harm any part of the Reflecting Pool,” Hearn said.
“The condition of that part and all other parts of the Reflecting Pool were in the same condition after I walked away as they were before I walked up to it.”
Hearn said as he was touching the material, a National Park Service employee told him to stop touching it. He said he then walked back to his bike where National Guardsmen told him that the Park Police wanted to talk to him.
“I had no idea I was about to be arrested,” Hearn said. “They didn’t say they were charging me, but they did start to handcuff me. They did not ever read me my rights. They did not allow me any phone calls for the ensuing five hours, and they did not detail the charges that were going to be leveled against me.”
The National Park Service has not replied to a request from ABC News about Hearn’s arrest or any others.
Hearn is set to appear in court on July 9.
Hearn said he was “fully cooperative” the whole time, did not resist and was held for five hours before being released Friday night.
Asked whether he is worried about what will happen to him next, Hearn said: “I am concerned. I’m very wary of our current government; I’m a single citizen being singled out in this way by my government. It’s not fair, and it’s not right.”
The Reflecting Pool has been plagued with algae and peeling paint in the days since the Trump administration completed a $14.65 million renovation. Visitors have been flocking to the pool over the weekend and some have taken to social media with photos and videos showing the algae and peeling paint.
President Donald Trump claims, without evidence, that the damage was committed by vandals, saying Saturday in a lengthy post on his social media platform that the pool would need to be partially drained to repair the peeling lining.
Trump said multiple people had been arrested for vandalism and blamed the condition of the pool on someone pouring “corrosive and destructive chemicals” into the pool and that “They took some form of knife or blade, and put a 250 foot long gash into the beautiful facade of what took so much work, competence, and money to build and complete.”
An administration official said on Sunday that as of Saturday night, five individuals had been arrested for vandalism, and five others had been issued citations.
The official added that 14 police reports had also been filed for alleged vandalism, including the alleged crime Trump described.
Hearn said he has “a lot of support.”
“I have several very respectable law firms who are offering to provide pro bono counsel, and we will be vigorously defending against these charges,” he said.
Video tripods sit empty on the White House grounds on Sept. 21, 2026, in Washington, D.C. Reporters from MS NOW, CNN, and Politico have been blocked from accessing the White House since September 19th after President Trump said he was banning the three outlets from the property. Those news organizations are now suing President Trump, alleging that it violates the First Amendment. (Finn Gomez/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The three news outlets banned from the White House by President Donald Trump on Monday filed a First Amendment lawsuit to restore their access.
CNN, MS NOW and Politico are seeking a temporary restraining order demanding the White House restore their reporters’ credentials after Trump announced the ban on Friday.
In a joint statement on Monday, the three news outlets said the lawsuit aims to “protect our First Amendment rights and defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes.”
“Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists’ credentials because it objected to our reporting. Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference,” the statement said.
Trump said in a social media post following the news on Monday that the barring of journalists was not “an assault on the Free Press” but instead “an assault on the FAKE NEWS,” which he claimed was a national security “threat.”
Trump said in a post to social media on Friday, “Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America.”
At an event in the Oval Office shortly after he posted his message, the president suggested there may be more restrictions on other outlets. Trump told reporters he supports a free press, but that “you need a fair and honest press.”
“It’s sick. I mean, there’s something wrong with a country that can allow people to write purposely negative stuff. Now, if they want to write them, that’s fine. But I don’t have to let them into my, into the people’s house,” Trump said.
Journalists from the three outlets were turned away from the White House over the weekend. A reporter from CNN said on air that she was told by a Secret Service agent that her badge had been deactivated.
The three outlets are challenging the legality of the president’s ban on multiple fronts, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit argues the ban violates the outlets’ reporters’ due process rights, that it unlawfully retaliates against their protected speech and that it violates the First Amendment by barring them from a nonpublic forum for unlawful reasons.
“This ban could not be a more direct assault on the First Amendment nor a more blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles,” the news outlets wrote.
The lawsuit warns of a cascading effect for other news organizations should Trump seek to expand the scope of the ban, as he said he may do in his Friday remarks in the Oval Office.
“The ban is already severely impeding the ability of CNN, MS NOW, and POLITICO to cover the President and his administration,” according to the lawsuit. “Every day, critically important news is breaking at the White House and in the press pool: President Trump is the commander in chief of a country at war; he is traveling to New York today to address the United Nations General Assembly tomorrow; he is meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping at the White House on Thursday; and he is steering national policy on the ever-advancing technology of artificial intelligence. And the ban inflicts an injury on all news media organizations—who now risk a similar fate if they engage in reporting the President deems insufficiently favorable.”
The five members of the White House TV pool — ABC News, NBC News, CBS News, Fox News Media and CNN — issued a statement on the matter on Monday, saying, “The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting.”
Vice President JD Vance on Monday pushed back on the notion that Trump’s actions constituted a ban, saying that the White House would not provide “special access” to outlets it deems are spreading “propaganda” against the president and his agenda.
“He’s not banning media outlets. What he’s doing is saying we’re not going to give you special access to the White House if you engage in what is effectively propaganda,” Vance said.
Trump’s initial social media post said he was “banning” the news outlets.
Vance was pressed by pool reporters traveling to with him on how this is not an attack on the First Amendment. Vance said the outlets are still able to report on the White House — it’s just that they won’t be able to maintain what he called “special access” to the building.
“Well, they can still report on the Trump White House. They can still get the public reports. They can still, of course, talk to people in the administration and outside the administration. What the president has said is, ‘we’re not going to give you special access inside the White House,'” Vance said.
The civil case has been assigned to D.C. District judge Timothy Kelly, who in 2018 oversaw former CNN correspondent Jim Acosta’s lawsuit that similarly sought to restore his press pass.
At the time, Judge Kelly, a Trump appointee, ruled in Acosta’s favor after finding that the Trump White House did not afford him proper due process in revoking his credentials.
The full D.C. Circuit and the Supreme Court have yet to establish settled precedent in the wake of Trump’s earlier attempted ban on The Associated Press from being part of the press pool and attending certain White House events last year.
While a D.C. District court judge backed the AP, a three-judge panel with the D.C. Circuit put the ruling on hold and later wrote that “restricted presidential spaces are not First Amendment fora opened for private speech and discussion.”
Monday’s lawsuit is expected to cite a 1977 ruling in which the full D.C. Circuit found that the White House cannot arbitrarily deny a journalist a press pass without due process.
“As the D.C. Circuit has long held, the interest that members of the press have in their White House hard passes is ‘protected by the first amendment’ and ‘undoubtedly qualifies as liberty which may not be denied without due process of law under the fifth amendment,'” the attorneys wrote, according to the court papers shared by Politico.
ABC News’ Fritz Farrow and Hannah Demissie contributed to this report.
Vice President J.D. Vance takes a question from a reporter during a news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on June 18, 2026, in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Vice President JD Vance on Thursday directly contradicted what is in the memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran, touting it as a “win-win” and insisting Iran will only reap financial benefits if they “change their behavior.”
“They don’t get anything unless they change their behavior,” Vance said during a briefing at the White House Thursday morning.
That conflicts with what U.S. officials had said was in the MOU, which states that “immediately upon signing,” the Treasury Department will allow the export of Iranian crude through waivers — a financial windfall for Iran, which has faced sanctions for years. Vance digitally signed the MOU with Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf before President Donald Trump physically signed it Wednesday.
ABC News pushed Vance on the financial rewards that Iran is already receiving simply for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. As part of the agreement, the U.S. is removing its naval blockade of Iranian ports, and Iran will allow commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran closed after the war started, to be restored to pre-war levels. ABC News asked how Iran is allowed to sell their oil freely without making any new concrete nuclear commitments.
“They’ve made very concrete nuclear commitments. They have committed to the destruction of the highly enriched [uranium] stockpile that they have in their possession,” Vance said, adding that lifting the Strait of Hormuz blockade has promoted “the free flow of energy … across the world.”
However, Vance’s comments conflict with what the deal says. There is no firm commitment from Iran to get rid of their nuclear stockpile — just a commitment to negotiate “the disposition” of it over the next 60 days.
Also, allowing Iran to freely sell oil on the global market now is an economic windfall for Iran, which could generate more than $60 billion a year in revenue, experts told the Wall Street Journal.
Furthermore, Vance defended the oil waivers by arguing the U.S. will gain insight into Iran’s economy.
“So by lifting the blockade, that’s the significant thing that has changed. And by lifting the sanctions, we’re actually going to be able to see a little bit where their financial system actually sends money and receives money. That’s a real benefit to the American people. And that’s really the only thing that has changed by the change in sanctions,” Vance said.
He also repeatedly stressed that U.S. taxpayer money will not flow directly to Iran — “not a single penny, by the way, from the United States of America under any circumstance.” But a final deal could still allow Iran to reap huge financial benefits, including the unfreezing of assets and a $300 billion reconstruction account for Iran — the details of which will be sorted in the 60-day period.
Pressed on whether Iran can be trusted to change its behavior, Vance asked “isn’t it worth trying?”
Democrats — and some Republicans — have expressed concerns about the MOU. Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat, said Iran “took Trump to the cleaners” in negotiations over the MOU in remarks on the Senate floor Thursday. Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy said of the MOU on Thursday: “Iran’s left stronger, we’re left weaker.”
“You know, I’ve seen skeptics of the deal. People say ‘the Iranians will never change their behavior.’ Well, maybe that’s true. And if so, they don’t get any of the benefits of the bargain. But isn’t it worth trying? Isn’t it worth seeing whether this incredibly weakened position that the president of the United States has put the Iranians under, whether that motivates them to change their behavior, not just vis a vis the West, but vis a vis the Middle East,” he said.
Iranian Supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei said Thursday that Iranian officials entered the agreement from a position of strength, portraying the U.S. president as having pushed aggressively for the deal out of desperation.
