President Donald Trump’s Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday addressed the Associated Press being barred from the Oval Office a day prior, saying it is a “privilege to cover this White House.”
“Nobody has the right to go into the Oval Office and ask the president of the United States questions,” Leavitt said. “That is an invitation that is given.”
Her response came a day after AP News executive editor Julie Pace said the outlet was blocked from being part of the press conference with Trump and Elon Musk. Pace said the AP was denied access because their newsroom refused to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.”
President Trump signed an executive order last month renaming the gulf, which touches Mexico, the southern U.S. and Cuba. Some tech companies have adhered to his decree, though many American citizens have not.
The White House’s decision to block the AP, Pace said, “Not only severely impedes the public’s access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment.”
On Wednesday, Leavitt was bemused as to why the AP or any other news organization would not call it the Gulf of America. “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,” she said.
Leavitt further noted the AP was still present in the press briefing room on Wednesday.
Soon after the president’s executive order last month, Amanda Barrett, the AP’s vice president of news, standards and inclusion, made an announcement as to why they would continue to call it 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,” Barrett explained. “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.”
In other White House press briefing room news, you can read about the reporters in the “new media” seat by clicking here; Wedneday’s new media seat was occupied by Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski.
