AP Objects to Reporters' Bans at White House

The Associated Press responded Wednesday to the exclusion of two of its reporters from White House press events the day before, sending a letter to register its objections to the Trump administration's actions.

Addressed to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, AP Executive Editor Julie Pace objected "in the strongest possible terms" to the White House blocking the news organization's reporters from two separate events with President Donald Trump on Tuesday.

According to the AP, the decision to bar the journalists' entry stems from "an apparent complaint over AP's editorial decisions regarding the Gulf of Mexico, which President Trump recently renamed the Gulf of America."

In the letter, Pace said that White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt met with an AP reporter earlier on Tuesday and stated that AP's access to the Oval Office would be restricted if the outlet did not immediately "align its editorial standards" with Trump's executive order.

When AP did not change its policy, White House staff denied the reporter access to an executive order signing and then later in the day would not allow another AP reporter to attend an evening press event in the Diplomatic Room.

"The actions taken by the White House were plainly intended to punish the AP for the content of its speech," Pace wrote. "It is among the most basic tenets of the First Amendment that the government cannot retaliate against the public or the press for what they say. This is viewpoint discrimination based on a news organization's editorial choices and a clear violation of the First Amendment."

"At this point, it is not clear to us whether the White House intends to impose these access restrictions against AP reporters on an ongoing basis," the letter reads. "We strongly urge the administration to end this practice."

Pace argues that the administration's actions set "an alarming precedent" that could potentially "severely limit the public's right to know what is happening inside their government." She also warns that the AP "is prepared to vigorously defend its constitutional rights and protest the infringement on the public's right to independent news coverage of their government and elected officials."

When asked about the exclusion of the AP reporters during a Wednesday press briefing, Leavitt said she wanted to "set the record straight."

"Nobody has the right to go into the Oval Office and ask the president of the United States questions," Leavitt said. "That's an invitation that is given, and there are hundreds of outlet on this campus, many of you in this room, who don't have the privilege of being part of that pool every single day and getting to ask the president questions. We reserve the right to decide who gets to go into the Oval Office and you all have credentials to be here, including the Associated Press, who is in this briefing room today."

Leavitt also said that she was "very upfront" in her first press briefing that "if we feel that there are lies being pushed by outlets in this room we are going to hold those lies accountable."

"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 said. "The secretary of Interior has made that the official designation in the geographical identification name server. Apple has recognized that, Google has recognized that, pretty much every other outlet in this room has recognized that body of water as the Gulf of America and it's very important to this administration that we get that right, not just for people here at home but also for the rest of the world."

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