A week after a federal judge ruled the Trump administration can’t prohibit the Associated Press from White House events, the wire service was back in the heart of the action, sorta.
The AP has confirmed that one of its print reporters “was allowed into the East Room event today” with Donald Trump honoring Navy football players for their victory over the Army on December 14. This is the first time that an AP staffer has been allowed into a White House gathering since Trump booted out the wire service in late February for refusing to call the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.
The ban still allowed AP reporters and photographers with credentials into the White House. At the same time that was hollow in many ways as the ban prevented the AP from the White House pool, which includes access to events in the Oval Office, Air Force One travel as well as more formal events in the East Room. To that, AP reporters and photographers have been turned away repeatedly from gatherings with POTUS – until today.
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Yet, with that, there is still no indication the AP will become part of the White House pool and regain full access. For decades, the AP has held two of the 13 core spots in the press pool. Under this week’s rotation schedule, the AP would be the wire service for the pool. White House communications chief Steven Cheung and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt did not respond to Deadline’s request today for clarification on the AP’s status.
As it stands, the April 8 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden ordered the Trump administration to “immediately rescind the denial” of the AP and restore its full access. With the First Amendment as the watchword, the Trump-appointed judge’s granting the AP’s motion for a preliminary injunction is being appealed by the administration. On April 11, the White House failed in its efforts to get an emergency stay on the ruling.
Not that everything has returned to normal for the AP and the White House press corps.
In fact, the AP was “blocked,” as a spokesperson put it, from the Oval Office on Monday for Trump’s much covered sit-down with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele. Reporters for the news agency were also prevented Monday from attending the celebration of Ohio State’s national football championship on the White House’s South Lawn. Two AP photographers were there to capture VP and Ohio State alum JD Vance drop the trophy, breaking it in two.
Just more than a month after Trump returned to office, the administration took over the running of the White House pool from the White House Correspondents Association. Naming names, Trump and his White House communications team targeted the AP for its refusal to jump on board with Trump’s executive order designating the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. On February 21, the Associated Press sued, naming Leavitt, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich as defendants.
Perhaps to blunt McFadden’s ruling last week in the AP’s favor, fellow wire services Reuters and Bloomberg had their guaranteed access to POTUS pulled by the administration today. Under the newly unveiled scheme, print reporters will snag the secondary pool spot. Under what has become a grinding away of legacy media’s prominence in the pool by Team Trump, the wire services will be recategorized as said print reporters.
Officially, today’s East Room ceremony was called the “Commander-in-Chief Trophy Presentation to the Navy Midshipmen of the United States Naval Academy,” with Trump exiting after about 20 minutes to a Marine Corps band playing Queen’s “We Are the Champions.” That’s the second time in as many days the tune has been heard at the White House.
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