White House ban on Associated Press can continue, appeals court rules

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A federal appeals court will allow the White House to exclude the Associated Press from access to the Oval Office, Mar-a-Lago and Air Force One if it chooses, according to a new court order in the ongoing legal battle over press access.

The decision hangs on a court finding that some White House spaces are not open to the broader public or large groups of press, and so the White House can choose which journalists it chooses to admit.

A lower court judge previously blocked the administration from excluding the Associated Press.

The appeals court’s decision is a further blow to the AP’s attempts to preserve long-standing norms governing press access and the free flow of information from the White House.

It’s a victory for President Donald Trump, who posted on Truth Social about the “big WIN over AP today,” and his press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who posted on X, “As we’ve said all along, the Associated Press is not guaranteed special access” to spaces like the Oval Office.

A spokesperson for the AP, one of the biggest news outlets in the world, said, “We are disappointed in the court’s decision and are reviewing our options.” The AP has previously argued that punitive restrictions on White House correspondents are unconstitutional.

The Trump administration has welcomed the fight. Earlier this year, it asserted control over the process of choosing which news outlets are in the daily press “pool” with Trump.

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