U.S. judge allows Trump’s AP Oval Office ban to stand over use of Gulf of Mexico name

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U.S. judge allows Trump’s AP Oval Office ban to stand over use of Gulf of Mexico name

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after signing a proclamation renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, while flying over the gulf aboard Air Force One en route to New Orleans to attend the Super Bowl, February 9, 2025. 

Kevin Lamarque | Reuters

A federal judge on Monday denied a request by the Associated Press to restore full access for the news agency’s journalists after President Donald Trump’s administration barred them for continuing to refer to the Gulf of Mexico in coverage.

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee, declined to immediately grant the AP’s request for a temporary injunction restoring its access to the Oval Office and Air Force One during a hearing in Washington federal court.

The AP sued three senior Trump aides on Friday, arguing that the decision to block its reporters from those locations violates the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment protections against government abridgment of speech by trying to dictate the language they use in reporting the news.

Lawyers for the Trump administration argued in a court filing before the hearing that the AP does not have a constitutional right to what it called “special media access to the president.”

White House Communications Director Steven Cheung in a earlier statement had called the AP lawsuit a “blatant PR stunt.” During an appearance last week at the Conservative Political Action Conference, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also said, “We feel we are in the right in this position.”

Leavitt is one of the three White House officials named as defendants in the lawsuit. The other two, Chief of Staff Susan Wiles and Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich, have not responded to requests for comment.

The Air Force One seat assignment cards of AP White House reporter Darlene Superville and AP photographer Ben Curtis are seen on an Air Force One seat in this photo illustration, after a Trump administration staff person barred them from boarding the plane, at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, U.S., February 14, 2025. 

Kevin Lamarque | Reuters

Trump signed an executive order last month directing the U.S. Interior Department to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

The AP said in January it would continue to use the gulf’s long-established name in stories while also acknowledging Trump’s efforts to change it.

The White House banned AP reporters in response. The ban prevents 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 White House Correspondents’ Association said in a legal brief backing the AP in the case that the ban “will chill and distort news coverage of the president to the public’s detriment.” Reuters released a statement in support of the AP.

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