Washington (AFP) – The Associated Press filed a lawsuit against three White House officials on Friday after the news agency was barred from some of US President Donald Trump’s events. The AP, in the suit filed in a federal court in Washington, said the denial of access violates the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech and of the press.
The White House began blocking AP journalists from the Oval Office 10 days ago over the news agency’s refusal to follow Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.” The ban on AP reporters was later extended to Air Force One. The news group said it was bringing the suit against three Trump administration officials to “vindicate its rights to the editorial independence guaranteed by the United States Constitution.”
“The White House has ordered The Associated Press to use certain words in its coverage or else face an indefinite denial of access,” the AP said. “The press and all people in the United States have the right to choose their own words and not be retaliated against by the government,” it said. “The Constitution does not allow the government to control speech. Allowing such government control and retaliation to stand is a threat to every American’s freedom.”
The suit names as defendants White House chief of staff Susan Wiles and deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich, as well as White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. “We’ll see them in court,” Leavitt said during an appearance Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington. “We feel we are in the right. We are going to ensure that truth and accuracy is present at that White House every single day,” she said.
In its style guide, the AP noted that the Gulf of Mexico has “carried that name for more than 400 years.” “The Associated Press will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen,” it said. “As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences.”
Trump called the AP a “radical left organization” on Thursday and said the new Gulf of America name is “something that we feel strongly about.” His leveraging of press access underscores the Republican president’s longstanding animosity toward traditional news outlets, which he accuses of bias against him. The White House Correspondents’ Association has called AP’s exclusion from Trump events “outrageous.” The 180-year-old news agency has long been a pillar of US journalism and provides news to print, TV, and radio outlets across the United States and around the world.
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