BREAKING: Judge sides with White House in AP case, declines to temporarily restore full access

A federal judge declined to restore the Associated Press' access to the Oval Office, Air Force One, and Mar-a-Lago after the outlet brought suit against White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, chief-of-staff Susie Wiles, and her deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich. The outlet claimed that their exclusion from those press venues was a violation of their First Amendment rights.

However, US District Judge Trevor McFadden disagreed, declining to temporarily lift that ban while the lawsuit plays out in courts, CNN reported. President Donald Trump, per the White House response to the AP's suit, was personally involved in the decision to revoke the special status that the AP has had for many years. He called their work "dishonest reporting." His anger was raised when the AP refused to use the term the Gulf of America in their reporting. The outlet preferred to use the old term, Gulf of Mexico.

McFadden scheduled a hearing for March 20 to hear the AP's case for a preliminary injunction. The White House had responded to the AP's suit, saying that "the
Associated Press continues to enjoy general media access to the White House press facilities."

"This case," they went on to say, "is not about prohibiting the Associated Press from entering White House grounds. Nor is it about prohibiting the Associated Press from attending briefings in the James S. Brady Briefing Room or using other press facilities at the White House. Instead, this case is about the Associated Press losing special media access to the President—a quintessentially discretionary presidential choice that infringes no constitutional right."

The White House response then went on to show that the AP's reporting has not declined since being removed from that special access circle. They have continued to cover briefings and events from the Oval and Air Force One using pool reports. 

"Presidents historically provided this special access to the Associated Press, but that discretionary choice does not create a constitutional right. Just as the President need not furnish a personal interview to all journalistic comers, the President has discretion to decide who will have special media access to exclusive events within the Oval Office," the White House response read.

McFadden concurred, saying that he did not see how the AP faced "irreparable harm," as they had claimed, over no longer having intimate access to Trump. He said, as did the White House response, that the AP "can get access to the same information" from pool reporters and cameras. 

The renaming of the body of water to Gulf of America was likely inspired by Kevin Posobiec and Trump announced that February 9 would be Gulf of America Day. In an executive order, Trump directed the Department of the Interior to "take all appropriate actions to rename as the ‘Gulf of America’ the U.S. Continental Shelf area bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the State of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida and extending to the seaward boundary with Mexico and Cuba in the area formerly named as the Gulf of Mexico."