White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during Tuesday’s press briefing that the White House would now dictate who covers the president.
This announcement, made during Tuesday’s WH press briefing, came a day after a federal judge declined to halt Trump’s ban of the Associated Press from press events over its decision to use the “Gulf of Mexico” name. Though the judge appeared sympathetic to the news wire’s claims, the White House has since tried to claim victory for the early decision ahead of a March 20 court date. (The Daily Beast)
From the Daily Beast: “Peter Baker, the New York Times’ chief White House correspondent, wrote on X that the new policy “reminds me of how the Kremlin took over its own press pool and made sure that only compliant journalists were given access.”
“The message is clear,“ he wrote. ”Given that the White House has already kicked one news organization out of the pool because of coverage it does not like, it is making certain everyone else knows that the rest of us can be barred too if the president does not like our questions or stories.”
AP spokesperson Lauren Easton had this to say after the hearing addressing the legality of the WH ejecting AP from the press room: “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.”
Leavitt stated: ““As we have said from the beginning, asking the President of the United States questions in the Oval Office and aboard Air Force One is a privilege granted to journalists, not a legal right.”