A federal judge has denied the Associated Press‘s request that he further direct the White House to restore its access to President Donald Trump and certain spaces.
U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden initially handed the AP a victory earlier this month. He issued an injunction stating the White House was not allowed to limit access to the president over disagreements surrounding the outlet’s refusal to comply with Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico. Although that injunction went into effect on April 14, the White House announced changes to the presidential press pool the following day that effectively continued to limit the AP’s access by eliminating the news wire spot altogether.
After hearing arguments from the outlet and the Justice Department on Friday, McFadden disagreed with the AP’s position that the administration’s latest policy, which eliminates a permanent slot for all wire services but makes them eligible for selection as part of the pool’s daily print journalist rotation, violated the terms of his injunction. The White House reserves the right to set such policies as long as they don’t discriminate against a particular outlet, he argued.