Associated Press Sues Trump Admin for Blocking Its Journalists

A logo for The Associated Press at its headquarters in New York City on April 26, 2016. Hiro Komae/AP Photo

The Associated Press sued multiple officials in the Trump administration on Feb. 21, alleging that the White House was engaging in an unconstitutional effort to control speech.

“This targeted attack on the AP’s editorial independence and ability to gather and report the news strikes at the very core of the First Amendment,” the agency said in a lawsuit.

Trump has barred the outlet from the Oval Office and Air Force One until it adopts his renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

“The Associated Press just refuses to go with what the law is and what has taken place,” Trump told reporters, adding that it’s within his rights as president to order name changes.

White House Communications Director Steven Cheung told The Epoch Times that the “AP’s frivolous and demented lawsuit is nothing more than a blatant PR stunt masquerading as a First Amendment case. ... We will defeat them in court just like we crushed their leftist reporters at the ballot box.”

The complaint, filed in federal court in Washington, names the White House Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich, press secretary Karoline Leavitt, and Chief of Staff Susan Wiles as defendants. It has said that it will refer to the body of water as the Gulf of Mexico while acknowledging the “new name Trump has chosen.”

The complaint alleges that Leavitt “summoned AP Chief White House Correspondent Zeke Miller to her office” and “told him that, at President Trump’s direction, the AP would no longer be permitted in the Oval Office as part of the press pool until and unless AP revised its Stylebook to refer to the body of water known for hundreds of years as the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.”

Leavitt was asked about the issue during a press briefing on Feb. 12. “It is a privilege to cover this White House,” she said. She added that “nobody has the right to go into the Oval Office and ask the President of the United States questions.”

CNN anchor Kaitlin Collins asked: “Is this setting a precedent that the White House will retaliate against reporters who don’t use the language that you guys believe reporters should use?”

Leavitt replied: “If we feel that there are lies being pushed by outlets in this room, we are going to hold those lies accountable. And it is a fact that the body of water off the coast of Louisiana is called the Gulf of America, and I’m not sure why news outlets don’t want to call it that, but that is what it is.” She referred to how the Department of Interior declared that body of water the “Gulf of America.”

A press release from the Department of Interior read: “Recognizing the Gulf’s enduring contributions to the economic strength and vitality of the United States, President Trump’s directive affirms its central importance to the Nation by officially renaming it the Gulf of America.”

The Associated Press said in its complaint that the ban on its reporters violates the First Amendment and Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.

“Defendants have deprived the AP of its right as a member of the White House press pool to access limited areas in the White House that have been opened to the press pool as representatives of the press and public,” the outlet said in its complaint.

“This attempt to control speech has the impact of depriving the thousands of global news outlets that republish the AP’s news reports, and its billions of readers around the world, from the AP’s factual, timely and nonpartisan reporting on the White House.”

The lawsuit is asking a court to declare the White House’s conduct unconstitutional and order the defendants “to immediately rescind their denial of the AP’s access to the Oval Office, Air Force One, and other limited spaces when such spaces are made open to other White House press pool members.”

Bill Pan and The Associated Press contributed to this report.