Judge denies emergency motion from Associated Press demanding access to White House

A federal judge shot down a request from the Associated Press for an emergency motion to allow the outlet access to White House pool events after being banned by President Donald Trump.

The AP said it was shut out of events after it refused to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, as commanded in an executive order from Trump. “The AP Stylebook” is used by many journalists to standardize writing practices across many news outlets.

‘We are vigilant in standing against entities like the AP that refuse to put America first.’

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden declined to issue a temporary injunction the AP was requesting in order to regain access to the Oval Office and Air Force One. However, he scheduled a hearing for March 20 to fully hear the case.

The AP argued that the ban violated the outlet’sconstitutional right to free speech, while attorneys for the Trump administration argued that the news outlet did not have “special media access to the president.”

“It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism,” the AP said in a previous statement. “Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP’s speech not only severely impedes the public’s access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment.”

U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin Jr. released a statement about the case.

“As President Trumps’ [sic] lawyers, we are proud to fight to protect his leadership as our President and we are vigilant in standing against entities like the AP that refuse to put America first,” he wrote.

The president addressed the issue when asked by reporters if he would consider lifting the ban.

“We’re going to keep them out until such time that they agree that it’s the Gulf of America,” Trump responded.

“I do think that some of the phrases they want to use are ridiculous, and I think, frankly, they’ve become obsolete, especially in the last three weeks,” he added about the stylebook.

McFadden was nominated by Trump.

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