AP accuses White House of violating First Amendment

The Associated Press has accused the White House of violating the First Amendment and called on the Trump administration to stop blocking its journalists from press events, Report informs referring to The New York Times.

Julie Pace, the executive editor of The AP, said in a letter addressed to Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, that the White House had blocked AP journalists from attending two press events with President Trump on Tuesday: an executive order signing in the Oval Office and an evening press event in the Diplomatic Room.

Pace said that the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, had earlier informed an AP journalist that the news organization’s access to the Oval Office would be restricted if the news organization did not start using the term “Gulf of America” to refer to the Gulf of Mexico. On his first day in office, Mr. Trump ordered US authorities to make the change to official maps in an executive order.

“The actions taken by the White House were plainly intended to punish The AP for the content of its speech,” Pace wrote in the letter. “It is among the most basic tenets of the First Amendment that the government cannot retaliate against the public or the press for what they say. This is viewpoint discrimination based on a news organization’s editorial choices and a clear violation of the First Amendment.”