Despite a court order, a reporter and photographer of Associated Press was prohibited on Monday of a press conference from the Oval Office with President Donald Trump and his counterpart of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele.
The decision of the Federal Court last week Prohibit the Trump administration from punishing the AP for refusing to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico had to enter into force on Monday. The administration is appealing the decision and arguing with the media on whether it needs to change something until those appeals are exhausted.
The United States Court of Appeals for the DC circuit established a Trump’s hearing at Trump’s request that any change is delayed while the case is reviewed. The AP is fighting for more access as soon as possible.
Later on Monday, two AP photographers were admitted to an event in honor of the Ohio State championship team at the most spacious South Lawn. A text reporter was rejected.
Since mid -February, AP reporters and photographers have been blocked to attend events in the Oval office, where President Donald Trump frequently addresses journalists and on Air Force One. The AP has seen sporadic access elsewhere, and regularly covers the informative sessions of the White House Secretary, Karoline Leavitt. Leavitt is one of the three administration officials appointed in the demand of the AP.
The dispute derives from AP’s decision not to follow the president’s executive order to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico, although the AP style cites Trump’s desire to be called the Gulf of America. The AP argued, and the United States District Judge, Trevor N. McFadden, agreed last week, that the Government cannot punish the news organization for exercising its right to freedom of expression.
McFadden on Friday had rejected Trump’s application for more delay in the implementation of the failure; Now the president is asking an appeals court for the same.
“We hope that the White House will restore the participation of AP in the pool (White House Press) as of today, according to the provisions of the court order,” AP Lauren Easton spokeswoman said.
The scope of AP’s future access remains uncertain, even with the judicial decision.
Until Trump blocks, AP has always had a reporter and photographer among the small group of journalists invited to the Oval office. McFadden did not order that it was restored, only that no news organization should be excluded because the president opposes his news decisions, under a principle called “point of view discrimination.”
“No other news organization in the United States receives the level of guaranteed access previously granted to the AP,” the administration argued in judicial documents during the weekend. “The AP may have become accustomed to its favored state, but the Constitution does not require that this state last perpetuity.”
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David Bauder writes about the AP media. Follow it in http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social
