By MATT SEDENSKY
WASHINGTON (AP) — 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 any irreparable harm. But he urged the Trump administration 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 said the AP had not proven harm requiring an immediate restraining order. But he cautioned the White House that the law wasn’t on its side in barring AP over continuing to refer to the Gulf of Mexico, not simply the “Gulf of America” as Trump decreed in an executive order.
“It seems pretty clearly viewpoint discrimination,” McFadden told Brian Hudak, a government attorney.
With no ruling made, the White House is free to continue barring the AP from the Oval Office and beyond. The case promised to stretch at least until March 20, when an additional hearing was set.
AP spokesperson Lauren Easton had this to say after the hearing: “We look forward to our next hearing on March 20 where we will continue to stand for the right of the press and the public to speak freely without government retaliation. This is a fundamental American freedom.” The White House, meanwhile, began displaying a pair of monitors in the briefing room reading “Gulf of America” and “Victory.”
Is singling out one news organization ‘viewpoint discrimination’?
Hudak said that just because an AP reporter and photographer had long held a place in the White House press pool didn’t mean the agency was entitled to it in perpetuity.
“That’s not just special access. That’s extra-special access,” Hudak said, noting that AP journalists continue to access the White House and publish news from events, even when its journalists are not present in the room where they happen. “The president can choose who to speak with.”
Charles Tobin, an attorney representing the AP, said it wasn’t a matter of whether Trump had to speak to the agency’s reporters, but that singling the agency out amounted to a “constitutional problem.”
“We’re not arguing that the president of the United States has to answer The Associated Press’ questions,” Tobin said. “The issue is that once he lets the press pool in he can’t say, ‘I don’t like you. You’re fake news. Get out.’”
The White House issued a statement declaring victory in the case, saying in part, “We stand by our decision to hold the Fake News accountable for their lies.”
McFadden, a Trump nominee, subjected both sides to intense questioning.
Discussing the composition of the “press pool” that is chosen by the White House Correspondents’ Association, he questioned why the government was obligated to follow those choices, saying “it feels a little odd that the White House is somehow bound by the decisions this private organization is making.”
Later, though, in an exchange with Hudak, he said “The White House has accepted the correspondents’ association to be the referee here, and has just discriminated against one organization. That does seem problematic.”
The dispute is over AP style
Earlier this month, the Trump administration began barring the AP from the Oval Office, Air Force One and other areas — some of which have been open to the agency for a century as part of the White House press pool.
That came after the AP said last month that it would adhere to the “Gulf of Mexico” terminology because its audience is global and the waters are not only in U.S. territory. However, it is acknowledging Trump’s rechristening as well.
The AP filed suit Friday, naming 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” that “strikes at the very core of the First Amendment.
Budowich was in court at the defendants’ table. The AP’s chief White House correspondent, Zeke Miller, sat with the plaintiffs’ attorneys; its executive editor, Julie Pace, sat in the front row of spectators.
Dozens of news organizations signed a letter last week urging the White House to reverse its policy. The signees included Trump-friendly outlets like Fox News Channel and Newsmax.
Trump has dismissed the AP as an organization of “radical left lunatics” and said “We’re going to keep them out until such time as they agree that it’s the Gulf of America.”
In an email to AP, Wiles said the news organization was targeted because its influential stylebook is used as a standard by many journalists, scholars and students across the country, the lawsuit said. She said the administration was hopeful the name change would be reflected in the AP Stylebook “where American audiences are concerned.”
The AP Stylebook is used by international audiences as well as those within the United States. The AP has said that its guidance was offered to promote clarity, and that even though Gulf of Mexico will continue to be used, journalists should also note Trump’s action to change the name.
A Trump executive order to change the name of the United States’ largest mountain back to Mount McKinley from Denali is being recognized by the AP Stylebook. Trump has the authority to do so because the mountain is completely within the country he oversees, AP has said.
It isn’t the first case of its kind, nor even the first to involve Trump. In Trump’s first term, reporter Jim Acosta of CNN had his White House credentials revoked. After CNN sued, another federal judge appointed by Trump ruled in Acosta’s favor to restore access.
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