After repeatedly stopping reporters from The Associated Press from being in the same room as President Donald Trump, the White House on Friday doubled down, appearing to bar the organization’s journalists from traveling on Air Force One as well.
The feud, which the White House Correspondents’ Association has called a violation of the First Amendment and Trump’s own executive order on free speech, began Tuesday and stems from AP’s recent decision to ignore the president’s Day 1 order renaming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.”
In a post on X, Trump deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich said that ignoring the “lawful” renaming is “divisive” and “exposes the Associated Press’ commitment to misinformation.”
He continued: “While their right to irresponsible and dishonest reporting is protected by the First Amendment, it does not ensure their privilege of unfettered access to limited spaces, like the Oval Office and Air Force One. Going forward, that space will now be opened up to the many thousands of reporters who have been barred from covering these intimate areas of the administration. Associate[d] Press journalists and photographers will retain their credentials to the White House complex.”
The post came just hours before Trump was scheduled to depart Washington and fly aboard Air Force One to West Palm Beach, Florida. AP, which has long had a permanent seat in all pool rotations, had already sent its correspondent to Joint Base Andrews to prepare for Air Force One’s departure, according to three people familiar with the matter who were granted anonymity to speak to POLITICO.
Beyond the post from Budowich, the administration had not communicated any specific guidance about whether that AP reporter would be allowed to board the plane, two of those people said.
Earlier this week, AP’s reporters were twice barred from pool availabilities in the Oval Office and from Thursday’s East Room press conference featuring Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which was attended by dozens of journalists and not just the 13-member pool.
In all of those instances, however, the AP’s still photographer was still granted access to the event. But going forward the organization’s photographers may also be barred, according to the three people familiar with the matter.
It’s unclear which outlets might be given AP’s pool slot, a smaller group of journalists that generally cover the president’s travel and appearances that aren’t open to all members of the press.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt has gone out of her way during briefings to invite correspondents from online and more Trump-friendly outlets to apply for White House credentials. Both she and the president have made a point of calling on representatives of supportive outlets, who have responded more with flattery than probing questions.
The AP did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But in a statement Thursday following the outlet being blocked from the press conference, the organization said the White House’s stance was “a plain violation of the First Amendment, and we urge the Trump administration in the strongest terms to stop this practice.”
Given the AP’s reach as a wire service for hundreds of news outlets around the world, the organization added that icing it out was “an incredible disservice to the billions of people who rely on The Associated Press for nonpartisan news.”
WHCA president Eugene Daniels — who is also a reporter at POLITICO — called the administration’s decision to block the AP from the press conference “outrageous” and “deeply disappointing” in a statement Thursday. Daniels said that it violates the First Amendment right to free speech and “the president’s own executive order on freedom of speech and ending federal censorship.”
“The White House is seeking to curtail the press freedoms enshrined in our Constitution, and has admitted publicly they are restricting access to events to punish a news outlet for not advancing the government’s preferred language,” Daniels continued. “Free speech and a free press are among the defining values of American democracy and must be preserved and protected. Our pool system is critical to ensure all of our members can cover the presidency, and prohibiting journalists from access because of their editorial decisions is viewpoint discrimination.”
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