Judge rejects immediately restoring AP’s access to White House but urges government to reconsider
The federal judge refused on Monday to order the White House immediately to restore The Associated Press access to events at the White House, stating that the news organization has not shown it suffered irreparable damage. He urged Trump’s administration to reconsider the two-week ban on the Associated Press, saying that the case law was “uniformly unhelpful” to the White House.
The decision of U.S. district judge Trevor N. McFadden was temporary. He told the attorneys representing the Trump administration as well as the AP, that the issue needed to be explored further before a decision could be made.
McFadden stated that the AP did not prove harm requiring a restraining immediate order. He warned the White House, however, that the law was not on their side when it came to barring AP from continuing to refer the Gulf of Mexico and not just the “Gulf of America”, as Trump decreed by executive order.
McFadden, a government lawyer, told Brian Hudak that “it seems fairly clearly viewpoint discrimination.”
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The White House can continue to ban the AP from its Oval Office, and anywhere else. The case was expected to last until at least March 20 when a second hearing was scheduled.
Lauren Easton, AP spokesperson, said this after the hearing: We look forward to our second hearing on the 20th of March where we will continue standing for the rights of the public and press to speak freely without retaliation from the government. This is an American fundamental freedom.”
The White House began to display a pair of monitors reading “Gulf of America”, “Victory” in its briefing room, which declared: “As stated from the start, asking questions of the President of the United States in the Oval Office or aboard Air Force One was a privilege given to journalists and not a right.”
Does a single news outlet being singled out constitute ‘viewpoint bias’?
Hudak stated that the fact that an AP photographer and reporter had been a part of the White House Press Pool for a long time did not mean they were entitled to the position in perpetuity.
“That’s more than just special access.” Hudak noted that AP journalists have access to the White House, and continue to publish news, even when they are not in the room. “The president has the right to choose who he wants to speak with.”
Charles Tobin, a lawyer representing the AP said that it was not a question of whether Trump should speak to reporters at the agency, but rather, singling out the agency amounted to a constitutional problem.
Tobin clarified that “we’re not arguing the president of the United States must answer The Associated Press questions.” The issue is, once he allows the press pool to enter, he cannot say ‘I do not like you.’ You are fake news. “Get out.
McFadden, the Trump nominee, asked both sides a lot of questions.
He questioned the White House’s obligation to follow the choices made by the White House Correspondents’ Association when he discussed the composition of its “press pool”. “It feels odd that this private organization makes decisions that are binding on the White House.”
In a later exchange, Hudak said, “The White House accepted the correspondents association as the referee in this case, and just discriminated one organization.” It does seem problematic.”
This dispute involves AP style
The Trump administration barred the AP earlier this month from the Oval Office and Air Force One, among other places. These areas had been open to the AP for a century, as part of the White House Press Pool.
This came after AP announced last month that they would use the term “Gulf of Mexico”, as their audience was global and waters were not just in the U.S. It is also acknowledging Trump’s renaming.
The AP sued three Trump officials – White House chief staff Susan Wiles; deputy chief of Staff Taylor Budowich; and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt – on Friday. The AP, a non-profit news agency that has been in existence since 1846, described the White House move as a “targeted assault” which “strikes the core of the First Amendment”.
Budowich sat at the defendants table in court. Zeke Miller, the AP’s White House correspondent, sat at the plaintiffs’ lawyers’ table. Julie Pace was the executive editor of the AP.
Last week, dozens of news outlets signed a petition urging the White House’s policy to be reversed. The signees include Trump-friendly outlets such as Fox News Channel and Newsmax.
Trump dismissed the AP, calling it an organization of “radical lunatics.” He added that “We will keep them out of the Gulf of America until they acknowledge the Gulf of America as the location.”
Wiles claimed in an email sent to AP that the news organization had been targeted by the lawsuit because of its influential stylebook, which is used as a guideline for journalists, students and scholars across the nation. She stated that the administration hoped the name change will be reflected in AP Stylebook, “for American audiences.”
The AP Stylebook can be used both by American and international audiences. The AP said its guidelines were offered to improve clarity and that journalists should note Trump’s decision to change the Gulf of Mexico name.
The AP Stylebook has recognized a Trump executive order that changes the name of America’s largest mountain from Denali to Mount McKinley. The AP Stylebook has stated that Trump is entitled to change the name of the United States’ largest mountain back to Mount McKinley from Denali because it lies entirely within his country.
This is not the first time this has happened, and it’s certainly not the first time that Trump was involved. In Trump’s initial term, CNN reporter Jim Acosta had his White House credentials removed. Acosta was granted access to the White House after a lawsuit by CNN. A federal judge appointed Trump restored Acosta’s credentials.
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