AP WH Reporter Blocked For Second Day From Covering Trump Oval Office Presser
A White House reporter with the Associated Press was blocked from an Oval Office event for a second consecutive day on Wednesday.
CNN’s Brian Stelter reported that an AP reporter on pool duty who attempted to cover the swearing-in of Tulsi Gabbard as the Director of National Intelligence was denied entry.
Stelter posted on X, “Breaking: For the second day in a row, the AP reporter on pool duty who tried to attend a POTUS event was blocked from entering the Oval Office. The reporter was there to cover the swearing-in ceremony for Tulsi Gabbard.”
The White House press office said the event would be open to the “in-house pool,” and as you can see, that includes the AP, which is a foundational part of the pool. But the reporter wasn’t allowed in. This deepens the dispute between the AP and the WH. pic.twitter.com/j0QjhQrQzb
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) February 12, 2025
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said earlier Wednesday that an AP reporter was blocked from an event Tuesday over the wire service’s refusal to call the body of water separating the US and Mexico the “Gulf of America.”
One of President Donald Trump’s first acts as president was to rename the gulf.
Julie Pace, the executive editor of the Associated Press, said in a statement Tuesday that her reporter being barred from am Elon Musk’s presser “violates the First Amendment.”
Leavitt said on the matter, “We reserve the right to decide who gets to go into the Oval Office.”
She added it was a “privilege to cover the White House” and accused the AP of being dishonest by not using the term “Gulf of America.”
“If we feel there are lies being pushed by outlets in this room, we are going to hold those lies accountable,” Leavitt also said. “And it is a fact that the body of water off the coast of Louisiana is called the Gulf of America, and I’m not sure why news outlets don’t want to call it that but that is what it is.”
The AP previously said of Trump’s renaming the Gulf of Mexico:
The Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years. The Associated Press will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen. As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences.
