Trump takes fight with AP over White House access to US appeals court

A journalist looks at his mobile phone next to a sign which reads, "We Stand with AP", a reference to the case between the Associated Press and the White House, during the press briefing by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt at the White House in Washington, DC, US, Mar 26, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

President Donald Trump’s administration will ask a US federal appeals court on Thursday to pause a judge’s ruling lifting access restrictions the White House imposed on the Associated Press for referring to the Gulf of Mexico in its coverage.

The Trump administration has argued that the lower-court ruling, which mandates AP journalists be granted access to press events in the White House, infringes on the president’s ability to decide whom to admit to sensitive spaces. The White House has asked to put the ruling on hold while it appeals.

The White House began limiting AP's access to Trump in February after the news agency said it would continue using the name Gulf of Mexico while acknowledging Trump’s order to change the name of the body of water to the Gulf of America.

The case has become a flashpoint in Trump’s relationship with the news media as the White House moves to exert greater control over who gets to ask the Republican president questions and report on his statements in real time.

Lawyers for the AP accused the White House on Wednesday of defying the court order by continuing to exclude its journalists from some events and then limiting access by all news wires, including Reuters and Bloomberg, to Trump.

The White House has argued that the AP does not have a right to what the administration has called special access to the president.

The April 8 ruling from US District Judge Trevor McFadden, appointed by Trump during his first term, temporarily ordered the administration to allow AP journalists to attend events open to similar types of news organizations in the Oval Office and on Air Force One, as well as in larger spaces in the White House while its lawsuit moves forward.

The AP sued three top Trump aides, alleging the restrictions were an attempt to coerce the news media into using the government’s preferred language and had hampered its ability to cover Trump.

McFadden found the measures retaliated against the AP over its coverage choices, likely violating free speech protections under the US Constitution.

The three-judge panel set to hear the White House’s request on Thursday afternoon includes two circuit judges Trump appointed during his first term, Gregory Katsas and Neomi Rao, as well as Judge Cornelia Pillard, nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama.

The AP alleged, and McFadden agreed, that the White House singled out the AP because it publishes an influential stylebook, which sets the language and grammar standards used by many U.S. news organizations.

The AP says in its stylebook that the Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years and, as a global news agency, the AP will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen.