Associated Press fires back at Trump over White House ban for refusing to use Gulf of America

The Associated Press has sued three top Trump administration officials after the wire service was barred from covering events at the White House and traveling with the president on board Air Force One. 

The AP’s lawsuit was aimed at White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, the wire service said. 

It asked a judge to reverse the White House’s 10-day ban.  

President Donald Trump had the wire service banished after it refused to change Gulf of Mexico to ‘Gulf of America’ in its prominent style guide.

‘The press and all people in the United States have the right to choose their own words and not be retaliated against by the government,’ the lawsuit said. 

‘This targeted attack on the AP’s editorial independence and ability to gather and report the news strikes at the very core of the First Amendment,’ it continued. ‘This court should remedy it immediately.’ 

The lawsuit was filed Friday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. 

The president shrugged off a legal threat during an address to Republican governors Thursday night. 

Associated Press White House reporter Darlene Superville and AP photographer Ben Curtis continued to be barred from the White House pool over the weekend after Trump aides prevented them from boarding Air Force One on Friday

‘We’re holding them out of any news conferences, now I’m sure they’ll get sued and maybe they’ll win, it doesn’t matter, it’s just something we feel strongly about,’ the president said. 

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit. 

Leavitt responded to the lawsuit onstage at the Conservative Political Action Conference Friday afternoon, as her scheduled appearance coincided with news of the legal action breaking.

‘We feel we are in the right in this position,’ Leavitt said. ‘And I said in my first briefing at the podium, we are going to ensure that truth and accuracy is present at that White House, every single day.’ 

More than 40 news organizations signed onto a letter organized by the White House Correspondents’ Association pushing the White House to reverse the AP ban. The letter’s existence was first reported by Oliver Darcy’s Status news. 

Even right-leaning Fox News Channel and the even more right-wing Newsmax signed on. 

‘We can understand President Trump’s frustration because the media has often been unfair to him, but Newsmax still supports the AP’s right, as a private organization, to use the language it wants to use in its reporting,’ Newsmax said in a statement obtained by DailyMail.com.

The two empty seats are shown in the press cabin of Air Force One for the Friday flight between Joint Base Andrews and West Palm Beach. Trump has remained in Florida since Friday to mark a long Presidents’ Day weekend

Associated Press White House reporter Darlene Superville and AP photographer Ben Curtis were supposed to fly from Joint Base Andrews to West Palm Beach with President Donald Trump on Friday but were barred due to the AP’s refusal to use ‘Gulf of America’ 

It continued: ‘We fear a future administration may not like something Newsmax writes and seek to ban us.’

‘This is why news organizations like Newsmax and Fox News are supporting the AP’s First Amendment rights though we may disagree with its editorial point of view from time to time,’ Newsmax said. 

Fox did not publicly comment on signing the letter. 

Last Friday Budowich posted to X and said the AP’s decision to continue to use Gulf of Mexico is ‘not just divisive, but it also exposes the Associated Press’ commitment to misinformation.’ 

‘While their right to irresponsible and dishonest reporting is protected by the First Amendment, it does not ensure their privilege of unfettered access to limited spaces, like the Oval Office and Air Force One,’ he wrote. ‘Going forward, that space will now be opened up to the many thousands of reporters who have been barred from covering these intimate areas of the administration.’

AP had already been barred from covering White House events on campus, but Friday afternoon reporter Darlene Superville and Ben Curtis were told they couldn’t board Air Force One. 

Superville and Curtis flew commercially to Florida and were told each morning by a White House staffer they couldn’t join the pool, the traditional group of 13 rotating reporters who follow the president’s move, of which AP is always a member. 

Trump doubled down on the ban during the Florida trip, telling reporters Tuesday at Mar-a-Lago, ‘We’re going to keep them out until such time as they agree that it’s the Gulf of America.’ 

The president also said that the AP ‘has been very, very wrong on the election, on Trump and the treatment of Trump.’ 

Trump was also asked Tuesday if he objected to some of the AP’s terminology that conservatives object to and claim skews liberal. 

Terms like ‘gender-affirming care’ – how the AP says reporters should refer to sex changes for transgender people – have received complaints from conservatives. 

Additionally the style choice of capitalizing the word ‘Black’ for African-Americans, but leaving ‘white’ down-style, has irritated Trump allies, as has the AP frowning on journalists using the term ‘illegal immigrant’ in their stories.

‘Well I do think some of the phrases that they want to use are ridiculous,’ Trump chimed in on Tuesday. 

‘And I think, frankly, they’ve become obsolete,’ he continued. ‘Especially in the last three weeks. Because many things have happened in the last three weeks.’