{"id":2514077,"date":"2025-11-24T14:55:59","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T19:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/doj-defends-ban-on-associated-press-white-house-access\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T14:57:43","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T19:57:43","slug":"doj-defends-ban-on-associated-press-white-house-access","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/doj-defends-ban-on-associated-press-white-house-access\/","title":{"rendered":"DOJ defends ban on Associated Press White House access"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdoj-defends-ban-on-associated-press-white-house-access%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2514077&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/federal-court-is-fast-tracking-sidney-powells-request-for-a-forensic-exam-of-dominion-voting-machines\/\" title=\"Federal ... Is Fast-Tracking Sidney Powell\u2019s Request For A Forensic Exam Of Dominion Voting Machines\">federal appeals court<\/a> is reviewing the legality of former President Donald Trump&#8217;s decision to bar the Associated press (AP) from the Oval Office and other small white House spaces following a dispute over the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico as the &#8220;Gulf of America.&#8221; The Justice Department argued that these areas are private and selective environments, not public forums protected by the First Amendment, and thus the president can control access. The AP sued senior White House aides claiming the restrictions were retaliatory and unconstitutional. A lower court previously ordered the White House to restore AP&#8217;s access, but that ruling was paused pending appeal. The appeals court is now debating whether denying AP access is permissible presidential discretion or illegal retaliation against the press. The panel has yet to announce a decision.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">All about access to president: DOJ defends ban on Associated Press White House access<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2410402\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>A federal appeals court on Monday grappled with the legality of President <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\">Donald Trump<\/a>&lsquo;s decision to bar <em><em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/associated-press\">Associated Press<\/a><\/em><\/em>  reporters from the Oval Office and other small White House spaces after a dispute over the naming of the Gulf of America, drilling into whether the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/first-amendment\">First Amendment<\/a> protects journalists&rsquo; proximity to the president.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/department-of-justice\/\">Justice Department<\/a> attorney Yaakov Roth told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that Trump&rsquo;s decision to cut off the <em><em>Associated Press<\/em><\/em>&lsquo;s participation in the press pool for small-space events was constitutional because the Oval Office and Air Force One are not First Amendment forums at all, but selective, invitation-only environments.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3896762\/harmeet-dhillon-doj-inquiry-protest-new-york-city-synagogue\/\">Harmeet Dhillon announces DOJ inquiry into protest outside New York City synagogue<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3897002\/james-comey-letitia-james-indictments-tossed-lindsey-halligan\/\">Judge throws out James Comey and Letitia James indictments after ruling Lindsey Halligan unlawfully appointed<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3895359\/lindsey-halligan-damning-evidence-letitia-jamess-mortgage-fraud\/\">Lindsey Halligan releases &#8216;damning&#8217; evidence related to Letitia James&#8217;s alleged mortgage fraud<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>&ldquo;When the president invites reporters into the Oval Office, is he creating a First Amendment forum? The answer to that is clearly not,&rdquo; Roth said, arguing that <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >viewpoint neutrality rules<\/a> that govern the White House briefing room do not apply when the president chooses which reporters stand &ldquo;within a few feet&rdquo; of him during private events.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">President Donald Trump listens during a signing of an executive order on reciprocal tariffs in the Oval Office at the White House on February 13, 2025, in Washington. (Andrew Harnik\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The dispute began after Trump ordered federal agencies to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. The<em> Associated Press<\/em>, citing its style standards, refused to adopt the new term except when noting its existence. This prompted the White House <span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\">to&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3329833\/trump-takeover-whca-press-rotation-white-house-events\/\">remove the outlet from the daily pool rotation<\/a>&nbsp;and limit its access to the president in late February<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p><em>The<em> Associated Press<\/em><\/em>  sued three senior aides, arguing the restrictions were an unconstitutional attempt to coerce coverage. In April, U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee, <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3374430\/judge-orders-white-house-restore-associated-press-access\/\">ordered the White House to restore the<em> Associated Press<\/em>&lsquo;s pool access<\/a>, calling the measures a likely form of retaliation. A split D.C. Circuit panel later paused most of that injunction until oral arguments could be heard.<\/p>\n<p>On Monday, a three<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/jan-6-rioter-taps-supreme-court-to-weigh-charge-levied-against-over-400-defendants-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"Jan. 6 rioter t...s Supreme ... to weigh charge levied against over 400 defendants - Washington Examiner\">-judge panel composed<\/a> of two Trump nominees and one nominated by former President Barack Obama returned to the core question of whether denying access to small spaces is a retaliatory action or a presidential prerogative.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Robert Wilkins, an Obama appointee, pressed Roth on why the court should end McFadden&rsquo;s injunction at this stage, citing Supreme Court guidance that close constitutional questions often warrant preserving the status quo, which would have restored access to the<em> Associated Press<\/em>. Wilkins also challenged the DOJ&rsquo;s narrow view of retaliation with a hypothetical involving a family denied a White House tour for criticizing Trump online. Roth ultimately said that &ldquo;probably&rdquo; would not violate the First Amendment.<\/p>\n<p>Trump-appointed Judge Neomi Rao questioned whether the<em> Associated Press<\/em>&lsquo;s request could ever meaningfully enforce an injunction without effectively binding the president.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Either you can enjoin the president and tell him that he must let <em>AP<\/em> into his office, or the president can decide who he lets into his office,&rdquo; Rao said, suggesting that the White House staff could not obey both Trump and a court order.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Gregory Katsas, also a Trump appointee, offered perhaps the clearest version of the administration&rsquo;s position, warning against &ldquo;room-by-room, space-by-space jurisprudence.&rdquo; What mattered, he said, was not the physical location but the nature of the president&rsquo;s relationship to his events.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This case is all about access to the president,&rdquo; Katsas said. &ldquo;The Oval Office hosts any number of different events, and the president gets to decide that. It&rsquo;s really different if the event is moved from the Oval to the Rose Garden or the East Room or somewhere else.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><em>Associated Press<\/em> lawyer Charles Tobin countered that once the White House created a pool assignment policy in the 1930s, it became a government program that must operate on &ldquo;reasonable and viewpoint-neutral&rdquo; terms, no different from the hard-pass system the D.C. Circuit has protected for decades.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3374430\/judge-orders-white-house-restore-associated-press-access\/\">JUDGE ORDERS WHITE HOUSE TO RESTORE ASSOCIATED PRESS ACCESS AFTER GULF OF AMERICA DISPUTE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The First Amendment does not stop at the Oval Office door,&rdquo; Tobin said, urging the court to leave McFadden&rsquo;s injunction intact. While the<em><em>  Associated Press<\/em><\/em>  may cover larger or general White House events, its access to &ldquo;intimate&rdquo; or invitation-only settings remains in flux pending the appeal.<\/p>\n<p>The panel did not indicate when it will rule.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DOJ defends Trump&#8217;s ban on AP White House access<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2633,"featured_media":2514078,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Trump-Air-Force-One.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651,538],"tags":[50326,7076,65300,44205,32127],"class_list":["post-2514077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","category-washington-examiner","tag-associated-press","tag-doj","tag-media-access","tag-press-freedom","tag-white-house"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Trump-Air-Force-One.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2514077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2633"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2514077"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2514077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2514081,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2514077\/revisions\/2514081"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2514078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2514077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2514077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2514077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}