White House bars AP from Oval Office and Air Force One over "Gulf of Mexico" use

Driving the news: White House deputy chief of staff and Cabinet secretary Taylor Budowich posted a statement on X confirming the White House's decision on Friday afternoon.

• "The Associated Press continues to ignore the lawful geographic name change of the Gulf of America. This decision is not just divisive, but it also exposes the Associated Press' commitment to misinformation," he wrote.
• "While their right to irresponsible and dishonest reporting is protected by the First Amendment, it does not ensure their privilege of unfettered access to limited spaces, like the Oval Office and Air Force One," he added.
• "Going forward, that space will now be opened up to the many thousands of reporters who have been barred from covering these intimate areas of the administration. Associate Press journalists and photographers will retain their credentials to the White House complex."

An AP reporter who was scheduled to travel with the president on Air Force One Friday was reportedly told she would not do so, per a White House decision.

The other side: "Freedom of speech is a pillar of American democracy and a core value of the American people," AP spokesperson Lauren Easton said in a statement.

• "The White House has said it supports these principles. 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 U.S. Constitution for all Americans."
• AP executive editor Julie Pace said in a statement Thursday that the "continued efforts to punish The Associated Press for its editorial decisions" were a "plain violation of the First Amendment."

Catch up quick: In an executive order signed by Trump on Jan. 20, the president declared that the "area formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico has long been an integral asset to our once burgeoning Nation and has remained an indelible part of America."

• AP said it would continue to refer to the region by the original name it's had for over 400 years "while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen."
• The White House barred AP reporters from covering Oval Office events on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, citing its editorial standards.
• When asked about the situation in a press conference Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, "I was very upfront in my briefing on Day 1 that if we feel that there are lies being pushed by outlets in this room, we are going to hold those lies accountable. And it is a fact that the body of water off the coast of Louisiana is called the Gulf of America."

Context: The Associated Press is a not-for-profit news organization used as a wire service by thousands of newsrooms across the U.S. and around the world that license its journalism.

The big picture: Efforts by Trump to block reporters during his first administration were challenged by judges when met with lawsuits from press freedom groups. They could seek to challenge the White House's actions again.

• In 2018, the Knight First Amendment Institute sued over Trump's practice of blocking critics on his Twitter account. A federal district court ruled that doing so was unconstitutional.
• The government appealed that decision, and in 2019, a Second Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld the ruling. The case was eventually dropped in 2021 after Trump was banned from Twitter. He was later reinstated after Elon Musk bought the platform in 2022.
• A federal judge found that the White House's stripping of the security pass of CNN correspondent Jim Acosta was unconstitutional after CNN sued the president over the issue in 2018. The ruling established a principle that to revoke a press pass, future administrations and elected officials would have to provide a meaningful process and justification.

What to watch: The principles established by previous court decisions should apply here as well, but "to determine the extent to which they do apply, they would have to be considered in court," said Katie Fallow, deputy litigation director at the Knight First Amendment Institute.