Judge rejects immediately restoring AP's access to White House but urges government to reconsider
WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Monday refused to immediately order the White House to restore the Associated Press' access to presidential events, saying the news organization had not demonstrated it had suffered irreparable harm in the matter. But he urged the government to reconsider its two-week-old ban, saying that case law 'is uniformly unhelpful to the White House.'
U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden's decision was only for the moment, however. He told attorneys for the Trump administration and the AP that the issue required more exploration before ruling.
McFadden peppered both sides with questions during arguments over a lawsuit the AP filed Friday saying that its 1st Amendment rights were being violated by the ban, which began gradually two weeks ago. President Trump said it was punishment for the agency's decision not to entirely follow his executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the 'Gulf of America.'
McFadden, discussing the composition of the 'press pool' that is chosen by the White House Correspondents' Assn., questioned why the government was obligated to follow those choices. 'It feels a little odd that the White House is somehow bound by the decisions this private organization is making,' the judge told AP attorneys.
He also questioned AP's noting of its longtime membership in the White House press pool. 'Is this administration somehow bound by what happened with President McKinley?' the judge asked. But he noted that the correspondents' group had been tasked by the White House to choose the members of its pool.
'The White House has accepted the correspondents' association to be the referee here, and has just discriminated against one organization. That does seem problematic,' McFadden said in an exchange with government attorney Brian Hudak.
Later, McFadden warned the government's attorney to reconsider its position, saying 'case law in this circuit is uniformly unhelpful to the White House.'
The AP says it is adhering to the 'Gulf of Mexico' terminology because its audience is global and the waters are not only in U.S. territory, but it is acknowledging Trump's rechristening as well.
AP says the issue strikes at the very core of the 1st Amendment, which bars the government from punishing speech. The White House says access to the president is a privilege, not a right.
Earlier this month, the administration began barring the AP from the Oval Office, Air Force One and other areas that have been open to the agency for a century as part of the White House press pool. The dispute stems from AP's refusal to change its style in referring to the Gulf of Mexico, which Trump decreed the 'Gulf of America' via an executive order.
The AP named three Trump officials — White House chief of staff Susan Wiles, deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich and press secretary Karoline Leavitt — as defendants. The agency, a nonprofit news outlet in operation since 1846, called the White House's move a 'targeted attack' of the sort barred by the 1st Amendment.
'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,' the AP said in its lawsuit.
The White House says its move to restrict AP is not an infringement of free-speech rights. 'The only person who has the absolute right to occupy those spaces is the president of the United States,' Wiles wrote to Julie Pace, AP's executive editor, in an email included in the agency's lawsuit. 'For the rest of us, it's a privilege, and to suggest otherwise is wrong.'
Sedensky writes for the Associated Press.
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Politico
10 minutes ago
- Politico
NYC mayoral primary: 1 week to go
Presented by With help from Cris Seda Chabrier More than 66,000 New Yorkers flocked to early voting sites over the weekend, as the Democratic mayoral primary is being framed as a race with national implications. To a raucous Zohran Mamdani rally attended by more than 2,500 people, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said the race was about generational change, POLITICO reported Saturday night. 'In a world and a nation that is crying to end the gerontocracy of our leadership, that wants to see a new day, that wants to see a new generation ascend, it is unconscionable to send Andrew Cuomo to Gracie Mansion,' she said. And forget Cuomo's claim he's the best to stand up to the president. 'We can never get past Donald Trump if we continue to elect the same people and make the same decisions that got us here in the first place,' AOC said. The former governor countered that experience matters more than ideology, that he represents 'capacity and competence and accomplishment, and that's what the Democratic Party needs.' 'Less words, less rhetoric, less theory, more accomplishment, more improvement in people's lives,' he told Playbook after speaking at a church service in Jamaica, Queens Sunday. 'My main opponent,' he told churchgoers, 'never had a real job.' Cuomo's face blocks Trump's like a partial solar eclipse on a new flyer his volunteers were handing out at a poll site Sunday. 'Donald Trump is at the gates,' it reads. 'We need someone experienced to slam it shut.' An image of soldiers policing protests in L.A. is on the reverse. That message of toughness has become a defining feature of the campaign — and in this Trump era, it's not just Cuomo presenting himself as a brawler, POLITICO reports today in a piece on all the tough-guy talk infiltrating this election season. 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Fearing attacks on state houses around the country following the Jan. 6 Capitol riot in 2021, New York officials temporarily cut off vehicle access to State Street. — Nick Reisman More from Albany: — Adrienne Adams and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards are on Hochul's short list for lieutenant governor. (New York Post) — There are more calls for Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado to resign as he challenges Hochul for the Democratic nomination. (Times Union) — The fate of major environmental bills is in the hands of Assembly Democrats. (POLITICO Pro) KEEPING UP WITH THE DELEGATION — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democrats are split over the response to Israel's Iran attack. (Axios) — Democratic Rep. John Mannion explained why he lashed out at Republican Rep. Mike Lawler on the House floor. (WSYR) — Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is pressing to restore student mental health funding. 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10 minutes ago
Juneteenth celebrations adapt after corporate sponsors pull support
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CNN
12 minutes ago
- CNN
Israeli opposition leader trusts President Trump ‘will do the right thing'
It would be in 'everybody's interest' for the US to join Israel in its fight against Iran, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid told CNN as tensions between the two nations continued to rise. Lapid who spoke to CNN's Nic Robertson outside a Tel Aviv building struck by Iranian missiles, said he trusts President Trump will 'do the right thing for America but also for the world.'
