The White House said Friday that The Associated Press is banned from the Oval Office and Air Force One indefinitely.
The White House barred a credentialed AP reporter and photographer from boarding the presidential airplane Friday for a weekend trip with President Donald Trump, saying the news agency’s stance on how to refer to the Gulf of Mexico was to blame for the exclusion.
It represented a significant escalation by the White House in a four-day dispute with the AP over access to the presidency.
The administration has blocked the AP from covering a handful of events at the White House this week. It’s all because the news outlet has not followed Trump’s lead in renaming the body of water, which lies partially outside US territory, to the “Gulf of America.”
Journalists consider the administration’s move a violation of the US Constitution’s First Amendment — a governmental attempt to dictate what a news company publishes under threat of retribution.
The Trump administration says the AP has no special right of access to events where space is limited, particularly given the news service’s “commitment to misinformation.”
AP calls that assertion entirely untrue.
“Freedom of speech is a pillar of American democracy and a core value of the American people. The White House has said it supports these principles,” AP spokeswoman Lauren Easton said Friday night.
“The actions taken to restrict AP’s coverage of presidential events because of how we refer to a geographic location chip away at this important right enshrined in the US Constitution for all Americans.”
