A federal judge declined to order the Associated Press’ access to the White House.
U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden said the AP did not prove harm requiring a restraining order. He went on to urge the Trump administration to rethink its ban against the outlet. Another hearing on the case is scheduled for March 20.
Following the hearing, AP spokesperson Lauren Easton said, “We look forward to our next hearing on March 20 where we will continue to stand for the right of the press and the public to speak freely without government retaliation. This is a fundamental American freedom.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt asserted that access to the White House is a “privilege.”
“The judge’s denial of the Associated Press’ request reinforces what I said from the podium last week and what President Trump has been saying, covering the American presidency, and the most intimate and limited spaces in this White House, in the Oval Office, on the Air Force One, is a privilege, it is not a legal right,” she said. “We want all voices to have that opportunity and that’s why we’ve expanded the James S. Brady briefing room to invite truly legitimate, independent journalists, podcasters, and other media types into that room to cover this president with honesty and accuracy and with real mindfulness of what the American people actually care about.”
The Trump administration blocked an AP reporter after the Associated Press refused to acknowledge the Gulf of America.
AP’s executive editor, Julie Pace, called the block is “alarming.”
“It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism,” Pace said. “Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP’s speech not only severely impedes the public’s access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment.”
