Judge declines to immediately grant AP access to White House events

AFP | Washington

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A US judge on Monday declined to immediately order the White House to restore full access to President Donald Trump’s events to the Associated Press news agency.

District Judge Trevor McFadden denied the AP’s emergency request but set a date next month for a more extensive hearing about the dispute. The White House began blocking AP journalists from the Oval Office two weeks ago over the wire service’s decision to keep using “Gulf of Mexico,” despite a Trump executive order renaming the body of water as the “Gulf of America.”

The AP, in a suit filed in Washington against three White House officials, said the move violates the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech and of the press.

Lawyers for the White House rejected the argument saying “the president has discretion to decide who will have special media access to exclusive events.”

McFadden, a Trump appointee, declined the AP’s request to issue a restraining order temporarily restoring AP’s access to all Trump events and scheduled a March 20 hearing to revisit the case.

The judge also appeared skeptical about the ban, according to US press reports, calling it “problematic” and saying the White House may want to reconsider its position.

The White House welcomed McFadden’s initial ruling.