The Associated Press is returning to court to fight its ban from covering President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, Air Force One, and other White House events.
Trump announced he was banning AP last month because the media organization refused to follow his directive to call the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.”
However, Julie Pace, the AP’s executive editor, has argued the move was about media control. “For anyone who thinks the Associated Press’s lawsuit against President Trump’s White House is about the name of a body of water, think bigger,” she wrote. “It’s really about whether the government can control what you say.”
The news outlet’s lawsuit seeks to restore its access, alleging that the Trump administration had violated due process as well as the First Amendment’s protections for freedom of the press.
What to know
The lawsuit names White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, press secretary Karoline Leavitt and deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich as defendants.
“The press and all people in the United States have the right to choose their own words and not be retaliated against by the government,” the AP’s lawsuit said. “Allowing such government control and retaliation to stand is a threat to every American’s freedom.”
The White House Correspondents’ Association also submitted a brief backing the AP’s lawsuit, saying a ban would “chill and distort news coverage of the president to the public’s detriment.”
12:36 PM EDT
‘Well deserving’ media given intimate access to Trump, White House tells judge
Well deserving journalists are allowed special access to President Donald Trump, White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich has told a judge.
News agency, The Associated Press (AP), is fighting to have access to the president in the Oval Office, Air Force One and other areas from which it is now excluded.
It is part of a wider battle between the White House and the White House Correspondents’ Association, which has been stripped of its right to decide which journalists have special access to Trump.
The case raises questions of impartiality in the Trump administration as the White House seeks to curtail liberal elements of the media.