AP sues White House officials over access ban after Gulf of Mexico dispute

# AP sues White House officials over access ban after Gulf of Mexico dispute

*Event date: February 21, 2025*

The Associated Press sued three Trump administration officials after the White House blocked the news agency from presidential events over its refusal to change its style from Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America.

The case was filed Friday in federal court in Washington and named White House chief of staff Susan Wiles, deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich and press secretary Karoline Leavitt. AP said the administration’s restriction amounted to retaliation against protected speech, arguing that the government cannot punish a news organization for using language it chooses in its reporting.

The dispute began after the White House started limiting AP access to events at the White House, Mar-a-Lago and on Air Force One. AP journalists were still allowed on White House grounds, but the agency said it was excluded from the smaller pool arrangements that allow reporters to cover events and relay information to other newsrooms. AP said it had tried several times to persuade the administration to restore access before going to court.

The lawsuit lands on a sensitive issue because the White House has openly framed the ban around the agency’s refusal to follow President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico. In the AP account, the administration was seeking to pressure the wire service to adopt the new label in its own stylebook and reporting. AP said that is not how editorial independence is supposed to work.

The White House pushed back quickly. Leavitt said the administration felt it was in the right and would continue to make sure “truth and accuracy” were present at the White House. The AP article also said about 40 news organizations signed a letter urging the White House to reverse the policy. The list included outlets with generally pro-Trump commentators, a sign the dispute had already widened beyond a single newsroom.

The lawsuit’s immediate target is access, but the wider issue is control over words. AP is asking a judge to stop what it calls an unconstitutional effort to force the agency to use the government’s preferred terminology. That is why the case matters well beyond the specific phrase Gulf of America: it goes to whether a president can punish a news organization for declining to mirror an official renaming.

For AP and the White House alike, the case now shifts the fight from the briefing room to court.