The White House Correspondents' Association on Wednesday said it would no longer distribute pool reports after President Donald Trump's press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that the White House press office will choose which outlets get to cover the president in close quarters.
"This board will not assist any attempt by this administration or any other in taking over independent press coverage of the White House," WHCA President Eugene Daniels, a Politico journalist, said in a statement to association members.
"Each of your organizations will have to decide whether or not you will take part in these new, government-appointed pools."
The "WHCA cannot ensure that the reports filed by government-selected poolers will be held to the same standards that we have had in place for decades," he added.
The WHCA, which represents more than 60 news organizations that regularly cover the president, has handled the media's access to the president for more than a century.
Leavitt spoke a day after a federal judge refused to immediately order the White House to restore The Associated Press' access to many presidential events. The news outlet, citing the First Amendment, sued Leavitt and two other White House officials for barring the AP from some presidential events over its refusal to call the Gulf of Mexico the "Gulf of America," as Trump ordered. AP has said its style would retain the "Gulf of Mexico" name but also would note Trump's decision.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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