Judge lifts Trump White House restrictions on AP while lawsuit proceeds

By Andrew Goudsward

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Tuesday ordered President Donald Trump’s White House to lift access restrictions imposed on the Associated Press over the news agency's decision to continue to refer to the Gulf of Mexico in its coverage.

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, who was appointed by Trump during his first term, ruled the White House must allow AP journalists access to the Oval Office, Air Force One and events held at the White House while the AP's lawsuit moves forward.

The White House began limiting AP's access to several events that featured Trump after the news agency said it would continue using the name Gulf of Mexico while acknowledging Trump’s order to change the name of the body of water to the Gulf of America.

"The Court simply holds that under the First Amendment, if the Government opens its doors to some journalists — be it to the Oval Office, the East Room, or elsewhere — it cannot then shut those doors to other journalists because of their viewpoints," McFadden wrote in his ruling.

McFadden said his ruling will not go into effect until Sunday to give the Trump administration time to appeal his decision. The judge is expected to issue a final ruling in coming months; that ruling could also be subject to appeal.

"Today’s ruling affirms the fundamental right of the press and public to speak freely without government retaliation," AP spokesperson Lauren Easton said in a statement.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

The White House Correspondents' Association welcomed the ruling.

"The WHCA board applauds today’s decision supporting our country’s foundational ideal that the government should not be able to control the independent media that covers it," it said in a statement.

The AP says in its stylebook that the Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years and, as a global news agency, the AP will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen.

The AP sued three senior Trump aides in February, alleging the restrictions were an attempt to coerce the press into using the administration’s preferred language. The lawsuit alleged the restrictions violated protections under the U.S. Constitution for free speech and due process, since the AP was unable to challenge the ban.

Lawyers for the Trump administration have argued the AP does not have a right to what the White House has called special access to the president.

Two AP journalists, Zeke Miller, the agency's chief White House correspondent, and Evan Vucci, its chief Washington photographer, told the court at a March 27 hearing that the restrictions had hampered the AP's ability to cover Trump.

"We're basically dead in the water on major stories," testified Vucci, who had taken a now-iconic photograph of Trump pumping his fist after a 2024 assassination attempt.

Miller said he had noticed a "softening of the tone and tenor of the questions that some reporters are asking of the president."

Brian Hudak, a Justice Department lawyer representing the Trump officials, disputed during the hearing that the AP had been entirely shut out.

Hudak said the White House had the authority to keep AP journalists from the president's personal and work spaces and accused the agency, in its editorial choices, of "refusing to adhere to what the president believes is the law of the United States."

AP journalists were barred from the group of White House reporters, known as the “press pool,” that covers events in the Oval Office and travels with the president.

The White House in February took charge of deciding which media outlets are part of the press pool. Reuters, which has issued a statement in support of the AP, has historically been a permanent member of the pool and now has a rotating spot for wire services.

The AP has also been blocked from attending larger events in the White House that were open to other reporters with White House press credentials, according to the news agency’s complaint.

The AP, formed in 1846, says on its website that it operates from nearly 250 locations in nearly 100 countries. Its journalists provide news to customers worldwide in text, photos, graphics and video.

The restrictions prevent the AP's journalists from seeing and hearing Trump and other top White House officials as they take newsworthy actions or respond in real time to news events.

The move has been criticized by several press freedom groups and the White House Correspondents' Association.

Most news organizations, including Reuters, call it the Gulf of Mexico and where relevant include the context about Trump's executive order.

(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward; Editing by Scott Malone, Daniel Wallis, Howard Goller and Lincoln Feast.)