(The Hill) — The White House says it will limit Associated Press journalists’ access to the Oval Office and Air Force One, an escalation of a brooding conflict between the Trump administration and the wire service this week.
“The Associated Press continues to ignore the lawful geographic name change of the Gulf of America,” White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich said in a post on social media platform X on Friday.
“This decision is not just divisive, but it also exposes the Associated Press’ commitment to misinformation. 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,” the spokesman added.
Budowich said going forward the Oval Office and Air Force One “will now be opened up to the many thousands of reporters who have been barred from covering these intimate areas of the administration.”
AP journalists and photographers will retain their credentials to the White House complex, the spokesman added.
The Hill has reached out to the AP for comment.
The announcement comes after the White House this week barred the AP from covering a number of White House events over its refusal to change its style on “Gulf of Mexico” to “Gulf of America.”
In a statement after the AP was first barred from covering an executive order signing in the Oval Office on Tuesday, the wire service called it “alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism.”
The White House Correspondents’ Association condemned the administration for a second time after AP reporters were barred from a press conference involving President Donald Trump and India’s prime minister on Friday.
The feud stems from a Jan. 23 guidance from the AP on Trump’s executive order on the “Gulf of America,” in which the outlet said it would refer to the body of water long called the Gulf of Mexico “by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday defended the initial decision to keep the AP out of the Oval Office, saying it is a “privilege to cover the White House” and the administration reserves the right to keep certain outlets out of White House spaces “If we feel there are lies being pushed by outlets in this room.”
Source: Fox 8 News Channel