AP reporters barred from White House events over editorial style policy

The White House escalated its offensive against The Associated Press on April 15, 2025, announcing it had eliminated the permanent wire service position in the White House press pool. The AP condemned the move as an attempt to circumvent a federal injunction mandating its access to Trump administration events.

Since mid-February, the White House has barred AP reporters from various events as punishment for AP editorial policy to continue referring to the Gulf of Mexico, despite its renaming by the Trump administration. On Feb. 21, the wire service filed a federal lawsuit against three administration officials, seeking to regain its access to spaces available to other members of the White House press pool.

On April 8, U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden granted the AP a preliminary injunction mandating that the officials reverse the ban by April 13. The government appealed the following day and asked the court to keep the preliminary injunction on hold past April 13 until its appeal had concluded. McFadden refused.

On April 14, the day the ban was to be lifted, the AP reported its access to White House events was inconsistent. A reporter and photographer were barred from an Oval Office news conference, and while two photographers were admitted to an event on the South Lawn, a text reporter was turned away.

The next day, an AP reporter was allowed into an East Room ceremony for the first time since February, journalist Brian Stelter reported on X. But shortly thereafter, the White House announced the change in the press pool rules before the AP could take its place in the wire service rotation.

One wire service spot — either for AP, Bloomberg News or Reuters — was reserved in the past for the 13-member group of reporters and photojournalists who travel with and cover the president’s daily activities, and whose makeup has traditionally been determined by the White House Correspondents’ Association.

But in February, the White House took over assigning the pool and on April 15 told reporters that wire services would no longer be guaranteed a spot, The Washington Post reported. The space was reserved instead for a second print reporter, for which wire-based outlets are technically eligible.

The next day, the AP filed a motion in its federal suit to enforce the preliminary injunction. It noted that the White House had “again excluded the AP from the pool” in that day’s guidance and that “AP photographers are still excluded from the four photo seats, which continue to be assigned exclusively to AFP, Getty, The New York Times, and Reuters.”

AP spokesperson Lauren Easton, in a statement to the Post, said, “We are deeply disappointed that the administration has chosen to restrict the access of all wire services, whose fast and accurate White House coverage informs billions of people every single day, rather than reinstate The Associated Press to the wire pool.”

WHCA President Eugene Daniels told the Post that the policy changes are simply a means to “retaliate against news organizations for coverage the White House doesn’t like.”

A hearing on the AP motion is set for April 18.

A federal court mandated on April 8, 2025, that Trump administration officials reverse a ban on access for The Associated Press to the Oval Office, Air Force One and other White House spaces.

At the same time, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia gave the government until April 13 to seek an emergency stay from a higher court and to prepare to implement the court’s injunction.

The wire service filed a lawsuit against three administration officials in February, seeking to regain its access to spaces available to other members of the White House press pool, of which AP is the longest-standing member.

The White House began barring AP reporters from events earlier that month because AP editorial policy refers to the Gulf of Mexico, despite its renaming by the Trump administration.

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden ruled in granting the preliminary injunction that the administration must rescind its denial of the AP’s access to spaces and events open to all credentialed White House journalists.

“Under the First Amendment, if the Government opens its doors to some journalists—be it to the Oval Office, the East Room, or elsewhere—it cannot then shut those doors to other journalists because of their viewpoints,” the judge wrote. “The Constitution requires no less.”

The Associated Press filed a lawsuit in federal court against three Trump administration officials on Feb. 21, 2025, seeking to reverse a ban on the wire service in the Oval Office, Air Force One and other White House spaces.

In the complaint, as well as in same-day motions for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, the wire service sought emergency relief from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to order the administration to provide access to spaces available to other members of the White House press pool, of which AP is its longest-standing member.

The suit names White House Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich, press secretary Karoline Leavitt and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles as defendants.

Starting Feb. 11, the White House began barring AP reporters from events at the White House because AP editorial policy refers to the Gulf of Mexico, despite its renaming by the Trump administration. On Feb. 14, the outlet’s print and photojournalists were barred indefinitely from covering events in the Oval Office and Air Force One.

AP said in its complaint that Wiles emailed the news agency on Feb. 18 to explain that the White House had targeted it because its stylebook “is used by many as a standard for writing and editing,” and that it “advises journalists, scholars and classrooms around our country.”

The suit calls the ban a violation of the First and Fifth amendments and demands a jury trial.

“The Constitution does not allow the government to control speech,” the outlet wrote in its complaint. “Allowing such government control and retaliation to stand is a threat to every American’s freedom.

"Emergency relief is even more warranted here,” it said, “because the White House’s actions are explicitly based on the content of the AP’s journalism, and because the denial of access and chilling effect on speech harms not just a single White House correspondent, but all of the AP’s journalists—and by extension all of the four billion people worldwide who get their news from the AP each day."

The Associated Press is barred indefinitely from covering events in the Oval Office and Air Force One, according to a social media post from a White House spokesperson on Feb. 14, 2025.

Taylor Budowich, White House deputy chief of staff and cabinet secretary, posted on X that the news agency’s decision to “ignore the lawful geographic name change of the Gulf of America” was behind the loss of “privilege of unfettered access to limited spaces, like the Oval Office and Air Force One.” The post stated that AP reporters and photographers would retain their White House credentials.

Around the time of the announcement, Andrew Feinberg, a White House correspondent for the Independent, posted on X that a White House correspondent for the AP was informed that she would not be traveling with the president on Air Force One.

“At Joint Base Andrews, @AP reporter @dsupervilleap — the scheduled wire reporter for today — was just told she’s not traveling with @POTUS at the White House’s direction,” wrote Feinberg.

Shortly after Budowich’s post, an AP journalist was blocked from attending a signing ceremony in the Oval Office on behalf of other members of the White House press corps, reported The Hill.

The Washington Post reported that on Thursday afternoon, an AP reporter was blocked from attending two events in the Oval Office, including a news conference with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the swearing-in for Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

AP’s Julie Pace, in a statement, called it “a deeply troubling escalation of the administration’s continued efforts to punish The Associated Press for its editorial decisions.”