AP sues Trump administration officials after being blocked from presidential events

(CNN) — The Associated Press is suing three Trump administration officials in federal court for banning AP reporters from some of President Trump’s events, the Oval Office, and Air Force One.

The AP alleges that the ban violates the First Amendment as well as the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment.

The suit was filed Friday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Washington. The AP is seeking an emergency hearing and a court order to declare the ban unconstitutional and require them to rescind it. The judge assigned to the case is Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee. The Trump administration did not respond to a request for comment.

Earlier this month, the AP, one of the world’s largest news outlets, was singled out by the White House for continuing to use the phrase “Gulf of Mexico” even though Trump renamed the body of water “Gulf of America.”

“The Associated Press just refuses to go with what the law is and what has taken place, it’s called the ‘Gulf of America’ now,” Trump said at a press conference earlier this week – an event The AP was not allowed to attend.

Other countries do not recognize the new name, and the AP is a global news outlet with customers all around the world, so its stories – and influential stylebook – are still referring to the “Gulf of Mexico” while also acknowledging Trump’s decree.

AP’s legal filing summarized the matter this way: The White House has ordered its journalists “to use certain words in its coverage or else face an indefinite denial of access.”

“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’s lawyers wrote in the news organization’s complaint. “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 ban was first implemented on February 11. Top AP editors immediately described it as a First Amendment violation but tried to resolve the dispute behind the scenes before resorting to legal action.

On Friday, the AP indicated that it is suing in part to protect other news outlets from similar punishment by the Trump White House.

Its lawyers said the action was meant only to “vindicate its rights to the editorial independence guaranteed by the United States Constitution and to prevent the Executive Branch from coercing journalists to report the news using only government-approved language.”

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responds

The suit names three defendants: Trump White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, and Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich.

Appearing on stage for an interview at CPAC Friday, Leavitt said, “Upon driving over here from the White House, I actually learned that I have been sued by the Associated Press.”

“So we’ll see them in court,” Leavitt added. “We feel we are in the right in this position and I said in my first briefing at the podium: We are going to ensure that truth and accuracy is present at that White House every single day.”

At the recent press conference, Trump signaled that AP reporters and photographers would continue to be barred from the Oval Office and Air Force One until they use his preferred name.

That means The AP is unable to serve as a key pair of eyes and ears for the rest of the American news media.

For decades The AP has been a foundational part of the so-called White House “press pool” that travels with the president at all times and shares information with the wider press corps.

Friday’s complaint emphasized the unique role the AP plays in news coverage. “When the AP is denied access, the thousands of global news outlets that republish the AP’s news reports, and the billions of people that rely on its reporting, also are denied access,” the lawyers argued.

The White House has argued that the AP is still credentialed to cover the White House like other news outlets.

In that way, the new suit differs from CNN’s legal action in 2018, when the White House revoked correspondent Jim Acosta’s press pass. The network brought a federal lawsuit and a judge quickly sided with CNN in the dispute on due process grounds, leading the White House to back down from the legal fight.

This case is about the right to attend White House press events, like presidential Q&As in the Oval Office, when they are made open to other press pool members.

“There are no U.S. Supreme Court opinions or lower court decisions as yet that specifically establish such a right, though a few appellate court rulings involve circumstances around the issue,” opined the nonprofit Freedom Forum.

CNN’S David Wright contributed to this report.

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