U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after signing a declaration that renames the Gulf of Mexico to the U.S. Gulf, while riding the Air Force in the Bay to New Orleans for the February 9, 2025 new Orleans is in the Super Bowl.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
A federal judge denied Monday that the Associated Press requested full visits of journalists at the News Agency after the president Donald TrumpThe government prohibits them from continuing to mention reports in the Gulf of Mexico.
Trump-appointed U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden refused to immediately approve the Associated Press request for a temporary injunction to resume its entry into the Oval Office and Air Force One Number.
The Associated Press sued three senior Trump aides on Friday, saying the decision to keep journalists out violates First Amendment protections of the U.S. Constitution’s first-amendment protection for government speech, trying to decide the language they use in reporting news.
Attorneys for the Trump administration argued in a court application ahead of the hearing that the Associated Press had no constitutional rights, i.e. “Access to the special media and the president.”
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung called the AP lawsuit a “blatant PR stunt.” In a appearance last week at the conservative political action conference, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also said: “We think we are in this position.”
Levitt is three White House Officials designated as defendants in the lawsuit. Two other, Chief of Staff Susan Wiles and Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich, have not responded to requests for comment.
Air Force AP White House reporter Darlene Superville and AP photographer Ben Curtis’ Air Force seat distribution card seen in this photo illustration of Air Force banned them in the Trump administration Arrive on the plane, and at Andrews’ United Base, Maryland, USA, February 14, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
Trump signed an executive order last month instructing the U.S. Department of the Interior to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the U.S. Gulf.
The Associated Press said in January it will continue to use the Gulf’s long-standing name in its story, while also acknowledging that Trump has changed its efforts.
The White House banned AP reporters from responding. The ban prevents Associated Press journalists from seeing and hearing Trump and other top White House officials when taking newsworthy actions or responding to news events in real time.
In the case of the ban, the White House Communications Association said in a legal summary that the ban “will relax and distort the damage to the president’s news coverage and distort the public.” Reuters issued a statement supporting the Associated Press.
