Associated Press Loses Its First Court Battle With the Trump White House

The Associated Press’ war with the Trump White House suffered its first loss when a judge declined to restore its Oval Office and Air Force One access. This legal scuffle is in no way over, but for now, the AP and their fake news reporters are barred from certain events at the White House. Still, the judge’s opinion also carried a warning that the White House was skating on thin ice (via NYT):

JUST IN: Judge McFadden has *denied* the AP’s emergency motion to restore its access to WH press pool events but has ordered expedited consideration of the matter given the weighty issues at the heart of it.

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) February 24, 2025

A federal judge cleared the way on Monday for the White House to continue barring The Associated Press from covering news events with President Trump, extending a legal fight over freedom of speech and press access, which Mr. Trump has long sought to challenge.

The Associated Press sued several top Trump administration officials last week, accusing them of violating the First and Fifth Amendments by barring its reporters from press events. The White House began turning away the wire service’s reporters this month, raising objections to its editorial decision to continue to refer to the Gulf of Mexico in its coverage, rather than calling the body of water the Gulf of America.

Judge Trevor N. McFadden of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, who was appointed by Mr. Trump, said The Associated Press’s circumstances were “not the type of dire situation” that would require emergency intervention against the White House, in part because the organization could still report the news through shared reports sent out to all media organizations in the White House Correspondents’ Association.