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Breaking News: Associated Press takes the Trump WH to court over "Gulf of America."
00:14:18
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I'm going to give you some breaking news right now. Earlier today I had planned on posting my interview with Senator Ron Wyden at the Ted Kennedy Institute. I'm going to be putting that up later on this evening. But in the meantime, there is some breaking news to tell you about right now. And hopefully everybody can hear me and that this sounds okay. The Associated Press has sued the Trump administration over. The Trump administration, the White House blocking the AP from the Oval Office in Air Force One. I have the lawsuit right here. It says The Associated Press vs. Taylor Buttowich, Caroline Levitt and Susie Wiles. She's the White House chief of staff. This is big breaking news in the fight for the First Amendment in this country. Of course, the White House has been barring the AP from the Oval Office in Air Force One because the AP refuses to call the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of. Of America. Well, listen to this. Listen to this. I'm going to read this lawsuit to you again. I'm live from the airport, so please forgive me, but this is breaking news. It says. Here it is. I'm reading it to you right now. Plaintiff. The Associated Press brings the suit against defendants each in their official capacities and states as follows. This is the introduction to the lawsuit. The White House has ordered the Associated Press to use certain words in its coverage or else face an indefinite denial of access. The press and all people in the United States have the right to choose their own words and not be retaliated against by the government. These are very strong words from. The Associated Press goes on to say the Constitution does not allow the government to control speech, allowing such government control and retaliation to stand as a threat to every American's freedoms. The AP therefore brings this action to vindicate its rights to the editorial independence guaranteed by the United States Constitution and to prevent the executive branch from. From coercing journalists to report the news using only government approved language. Again, I'm reading here from the Associated Press lawsuit against the White House against the Trump administration over its attack on the AP's First Amendment rights because they use the term Gulf of Mexico as they should. That's the proper term for that body of water, not the name that Trump made up just a couple of weeks ago. The AP goes on to say the AP therefore brings this action to vindicate its rights to the editorial independence guaranteed by the United States Constitution and to prevent the executive branch from coercing journalists to report the news using only government approved language. The AP is one of the world's oldest and most trusted news organizations. It goes on to say the AP has participated in the White House press pool since its creation over a century ago, which has made it possible for the AP to deliver to the public timely and thorough reporting on the president almost everywhere he goes. Again, I'm just reading here from the lawsuit. On February 11, 2025, without prior notice, White House officials informed the AP that it would be barred from entering certain areas in the White House as a member of the press pool unless the AP began referring to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. Following Trump's renaming of that body of water. In Executive Order 14172, the White House began banning AP journalists from events open to the press within hours. Again, they're laying out the facts of the case right here. Now, I understand I was talking to my friend Molly John, fast. I'm going to see if I can bring her into the conversation. Molly and I were just talking about this a few moments ago. If she can jump on, I'm going to bring her in. If not, I'm going to keep reading to you what's in this document here because I think it's very important. Molly, if you hear me, I'm trying to bring you in right now. This goes on to say. In an email to the AP on Feb. 18, 2025, White House chief of Staff Susie Wiles explained why we arrived in this point. She wrote that the White House was targeting the AP because its style book is used by many as a standard for writing and editing, and that it advises journalists, scholars and classrooms around our country. Goes on to say President Trump has since doubled down on his administration's target of the ap, saying, quote, we're going to keep them out until such time that they agree that it's the Gulf of America and that the AP has, quote, been very, very wrong on the election on Trump and the treatment of Trump. I mean, this just goes on and on and on. And this is such an important moment, guys, just telling Molly, trying to bring you in now. This is such an important, important point because I, I went through some of this during the first Trump administration. As many of you remember, they took away my press pass because of the way they, they didn't like the questioning, the line of questioning that I had back in 2018. We had to go to court. You know, first we said, hey, listen, don't do this, tried to reason with them and so on. They didn't want to be reasoned with. We had to take them to court. And I will tell you, we were pretty successful in court with A Trump appointed judge. But hold on to your hats, folks, because this is going to be a very interesting case. I can tell you from my case when I was arguing and my employer was arguing for my press pass to be returned, that not only was it a violation of my right to free speech, but it was a right of due process. And your Fifth Amendment right to due process isn't very, is a very important thing. And if you think about what I just read to you a few moments ago, the AP is saying that without notice, they were told that they were going to be blocked from certain events at the White House. And that right there, I think some media, law professors, I'm hearing about this right now, lawyers who work on all of this, Ted Boutros, the first lawyer who worked on my case, will tell you if they don't give you advance notification, that lays out the groundwork, lays out the rules and so on, however cockamamie the rules might be, that is a violation of due process right there. And so they've got themselves in trouble right there. But of course, what we're talking about here is the First Amendment. I mean, let's, let's just be, I mean, the Fifth Amendment thing, that's important, no question about it. But the First Amendment right to free speech, the First Amendment right to freedom of the press, it's not just something that the Founding Fathers said, hey, this might be nice to add to the Constitution. Let's put that in there. No, remember the Founding Fathers, even at that time, with what was going on in the world, they had more faith in the press than they had in the government itself and in the government that they were putting together, which is why they enshrined the First Amendment in the Constitution of the United States. Now, I'm continuing, Molly's telling me, just for the Molly fans out there, she tells me it might take a few minutes for her to jump on. So I'm going to bring her in in just a little bit here. But keep in mind, I'm going through this right now. And I mean, the way they lay this out so methodically is so important here. It lays out some of the facts of the case. It says here, on the morning of February 11, 2025, White House press secretary Caroline Levitt summoned the AP chief White House correspondent Seek Miller to her office. She told him that at President Trump's direction, this is according to the lawsuit, the AP would no longer be permitted in the Oval Office as part of the press pool until and unless AP revised its style book to refer to the body of water known for hundreds of years as the Gulf of Mexico, as the Gulf of America. Levitt provided no other reason for the decision. Others compel the AP to change the language of the reporting, nor did she object to any particular conduct by Miller or any other journalist. And that is, that's such important point right there. So they bring in Zeke Miller. I've known Zeke for a long time, really good reporter with the ap. They bring him into the White House press secretary's office and the White House press secretary says to Zeke right on the spot, it's because of the way you refer to the Gulf of America or you refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of Mexico and not the Gulf of America as the rationale for doing this. That right, you're caught red handed. Donald Trump, you've been caught red handed trying to violate the free speech rights of the Associated Press. And it's just not going to happen. I had a Trump appointed judge in my case. Trump appointed judge came down very hard on the Trump White House during that first gentleman. And so it's no surprise that that's happening here. Again, going through this lawsuit here. And it's just, it's so important. It's so important. Since February 14, 2025, AP print and photojournalists have remained barred from the Oval Office, Air Force One and other locations otherwise open to the White House press pool, as well as other events that have been open to broader White House press corps. White House has not provided the AP with any formal notice of the reasons for formal opportunity to be heard regarding or meaningful opportunity to challenge the House's decision to bar the AP from the press pool, Oval Office, Air Force One and other limited areas. All of this is key. The indefinite denial of the AP's access was based on the content and perceived viewpoint of the AP's reporting and editorial decisions and constituted impermissible retaliation against the AP based on its constitutionally protected activity in ways that would chill the speech of similarly situated reasonable individuals. I mean, this just goes to show you right there. It goes on to say the White House's decision to deny the AP access was arbitrary. Ap, again, and they're making this, they're making this point time and again. I think this is very important. The AP received no prior notice to the White House decision. Levitt announced the decision verbally after it been made to AP Chief White House Correspondent Zeke Miller. AP received no written notice of the White House's decision. And so this is a very important case, guys. And I'm just Going through this piece by piece. Forgive me for reading this live on the air here, but this just goes to show you right now that and I talked about this a few weeks ago about not giving into the lies, not giving into fear that you can stand up for truth in this country. You can't stand up against lies in this country, and you just stand up for something as simple as the facts. Something as simple as it's the Gulf of Mexico. What the hell are we doing here? If he wants to call it the Gulf of America, he could do that. It's a little strange. It's a little bizarre. It doesn't make any sense to me right here as I'm. As I'm talking to you right now. Still doesn't make any sense to me. I've had several days to process. This does not make any sense. If he wants to do that, that's fine. To punish the Associated Press for calling it the Gulf of Mexico. It's just a violation of their free speech. It's a violation of the Constitution. And I suspect that the court is going to knock this down. It's just not going to lasten. Folks, you know, this is a very important case. I am gratified that the AP is doing this. They are making the right decision here. And keep in mind, for days here, ap, according to reporting from Oliver Darcy and others, the AP had tried to appeal to the White House and say, please, you know, stop doing this. Don't do this. The apostle tried to work with other news organizations. I believe a letter was put together, some kind of correspondence was put together to the White House to say, all these news organizations are standing together to say, please don't do this. This is not right. And so on. That was very important. And, you know, I think the AP did this, as far as I can tell, just right. And so listen, you know, a lot of folks, I understand this, folks have been down in the dumps for several weeks now. People have been feeling a sense of hopelessness, that there's nothing you can do, there's nothing you can say, there's nothing that can be done in terms of standing up for the truth and the Constitution and democracy and what matters in this country. And here's a clear example, the AP not being advocates here, they're not engaging in advocacy. They're being journalists. They're doing what journalists should do, and that's just reporting the facts, reporting the news. And when push comes to shove, standing up for themselves and their rights under this Constitution. Constitution still stands in this country. Bill of rights still holds in this country and the First Amendment still lives in this country. So forgive the gritty last second live shot here from the airport heading back to D.C. but as soon as I saw this, I had to drop everything and, and jump on this. Hope I don't miss my flight. I had to jump on here and talk to you about this now. And it just, just so you know, I talked about having Molly on earlier. I'm going to try to do that if I can, but I think I have to board my flight, so I might not be able to do that. You might have to talk to Molly next time. But earlier today, I did talk to Senator Ron Wyden at the Ted Kennedy Ed Kennedy Edward Kennedy Institute in Boston, hoping to post that video later on this evening. Anyway, starting to stumble here, ramble on. This has been one of those last minute things running through the airport. But have a good weekend, everybody. Some good news to end this week on and that is the First Amendment still stands. Freedom of the press still stands. Bravo, Associated Press. All right, Talk to you guys later. Still reporting. I'm in Boston right now, not Washington, but still reporting. I'm Jim Acosta. Have a great weekend, everybody. Take care.