Judge says White House can’t ban AP from Oval Office, Air Force One

Judge says White House can’t ban AP from Oval Office, Air Force One


AP’s members leave the U.S. District Court, on the day a judge hears arguments in the Associated Press’ (AP) bid to restore access for its journalists to cover press events aboard Air Force One and at the White House, after the Trump administration barred the news agency for continuing to refer to the Gulf of Mexico, now Gulf of America, in its coverage, in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 27, 2025.

Tom Brenner | Reuters

A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that the White House cannot bar Associated Press reporters and photographers from the Oval Office, Air Force One, and other secure spaces where journalists from other media outlets are admitted.

District Court Judge Trevor McFadden in an order said the White House’s practice of blocking access to AP journalists to those spaces since President Donald Trump took office is “contrary to the First Amendment” of the U.S. Constitution.

The White House “sharply curtailed” the wire services’ access to media events with Trump after the president renamed the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” and the AP did not reflect that change in its references to that body of water, McFadden noted in the ruling in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

“The Court does not order the Government to grant the AP permanent access to the Oval Office, the East Room, or any other media event,” wrote the judge, who was appointed to the bench by Trump.

“It does not bestow special treatment upon the AP. Indeed, the AP is not necessarily entitled to the ‘first in line every time’ permanent press pool access it enjoyed under the WHCA [White House Correspondents’ Association],” the judge wrote.

“But it cannot be treated worse than its peer wire services either.”

The AP had sued to regain its longstanding access to spaces in the White House and Air Force One.

This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.



Source

Appeals court keeps order blocking Trump administration from indiscriminate immigration sweeps
Politics

Appeals court keeps order blocking Trump administration from indiscriminate immigration sweeps

A federal appeals court ruled Friday night to uphold a lower court’s temporary order blocking the Trump administration from conducting indiscriminate immigration stops and arrests in Southern California. A three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held a hearing Monday afternoon at which the federal government asked the court to overturn a […]

Read More
Trump ‘soft, weak and afraid’ in firing labor statistics chief McEntarfer: Wyden
Politics

Trump ‘soft, weak and afraid’ in firing labor statistics chief McEntarfer: Wyden

The top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee called President Donald Trump’s firing of Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer on Friday “the act of somebody who is soft, weak and afraid to own up to the reality of the damage his chaos is inflicting on our economy.” “Bottom line, Trump wants to cook […]

Read More
Texas researcher faces deportation after being held for a week at San Francisco airport
Politics

Texas researcher faces deportation after being held for a week at San Francisco airport

Travelers outside San Francisco International Airport (SFO) in San Francisco, California, US, on Friday, May 23, 2025. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images A researcher at Texas A&M University flying home from abroad was detained for more than a week by immigration authorities at the San Francisco International Airport, sleeping in a chair and living […]

Read More