On Friday, February 21, 2025, President Donald Trump addresses the Governors Working Session in the White House’s State Dining Room in Washington.AP snapshot of a pool
Citing freedom of speech, the Associated Press filed a lawsuit against three Trump administration officials on Friday to prevent their journalists from being blocked from attending presidential events.
Ten days after the White House started limiting access to the news agency, the lawsuit was filed Friday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
According to the AP, its complaint concerns an unlawful attempt by the White House to regulate speech, namely the refusal to change its style from the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, as required by an executive order issued by President Donald Trump last month.
According to the AP’s lawsuit, which names White House chief of staff Susan Wiles, deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich, and press secretary Karoline Leavitt, the press and all Americans have the freedom to speak their minds without fear of retaliation from the government.
The news agency claimed that this specific assault on AP’s editorial independence and capacity to get and report the news goes right to the heart of the First Amendment. This court ought to fix it right away.
The administration did not immediately comment.
Trump directly cited AP s editorial decision
The Trump administration specifically pointed to the AP’s failure to completely comply with the president’s nomenclature when they prevented the outlet from traveling on Air Force One in the agency’s usual location or attending press conferences at the White House and Mar-a-Lago.
Trump declared Tuesday, “We’re going to keep them out until they agree that it’s the Gulf of America.”
The body of water shares borders with Mexico, according to style guidance released by the American Psychological Association last month. The authority of Trump’s order is limited to the United States. The name change is not required to be accepted by Mexico or other nations or international organizations.
That moniker has been applied to the Gulf of Mexico for almost 400 years. While honoring Trump’s new moniker, the Associated Press will continue to call it by its former name.
About 40 news outlets joined a letter issued by the White House Correspondents Association this week, requesting that the White House change its stance against the AP.
Although AP reporters are still permitted on White House property, they are not included in the group of reporters who cover events in more intimate settings and report back to readers and other reporters. For over a century, the AP has been a part of White House pools.
According to the lawsuit, the AP tried in vain to convince the government that its actions were illegal on multiple occasions. This week, Wiles met with Julie Pace, the executive editor and senior vice president of AP, in Florida.
The AP Stylebook is a sticking point
According to the lawsuit, Wiles claimed in an email to AP that the news outlet was singled out because many journalists, academics, and students nationwide utilize its renowned stylebook as a benchmark. Regarding American audiences, she stated that the government hoped the name change would be reflected in the AP Stylebook.
Both audiences inside the United States and those outside of it use the Stylebook. Although the Gulf of Mexico will still be used, the AP has stated that its guidelines were provided to encourage clarity and that reporters should take note of Trump’s decision to change the name.
The AP Stylebook is acknowledging a Trump executive order to rename the biggest mountain in the United States from Denali to Mount McKinley. According to AP, Trump is able to do so because the mountain is entirely inside the nation he is in charge of.
Trump called the Associated Press “radical left lunatics” in a Friday radio interview with Brian Kilmeade of Fox News. “Associated Press is a third-rate organization with a first-rate name,” he remarked.
He claimed that while most people agreed with the renaming of the Gulf of America, AP wants to appear adorable. Other news outlets have responded differently: Fox News has adopted Trump’s selection, while the New York Times and Washington Post are sticking with Gulf of Mexico. For users in the US, Google Maps uses the Gulf of America.
Written by AP Media Writer David Bauer
