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susan wiles
Judge Denies AP's Emergency Request to Lift Trump Ban Over Gulf of Mexico Spat
However, the Trump-appointed federal judge said he would expedite the case due to its importance.
Feb 24, 2025
A U.S. federal judge on Monday rejected an emergency request by The Associated Press to lift the White House's ban on its reporters for refusing to call the Gulf of Mexico the "Gulf of America"—but said he would fast-track the important case.
U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden—an appointee of President Donald Trump—said that the AP is not facing "the type of dire situation" that would warrant issuance of the temporary restraining order sought by the wire service, according to The New York Times.
However, Politico senior legal affairs reporter Kyle Cheney said that McFadden "has ordered expedited consideration of the matter given the weighty issues at the heart of it."
Earlier this month, Trump indefinitely banned AP reporters from White House press briefings and Air Force One flights over its refusal to fully adopt the president's new name for the Gulf of Mexico. The news agency responded by suing three Trump administration officials over the blocked access: White House Chief of Staff Susan Wiles, Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich, and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
"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," the AP said in its lawsuit. The AP has explained that because the gulf is an international body of water, it will continue to call it the Gulf of Mexico, while referencing Trump's name change, because Mexico and other countries do not recognize the new appellation.
The White House welcomed the ruling with video screens reading "Victory" and "Gulf of America" in the James S. Brady Briefing Room, where press conferences are held.
"As we have said from the beginning, asking the president of the United States questions in the Oval Office and aboard Air Force One is a privilege granted to journalists, not a legal right," the White House said in response to McFadden's ruling.
"We stand by our decision to hold the Fake News accountable for their lies, and President Trump will continue to grant an unprecedented level of access to the press," the White House statement added. "This is the most transparent administration in history."
Dozens of media organizations—including pro-Trump outlets like Fox News and Newsmax—urged the White House to lift its ban on the AP.
In an extraordinary move earlier Monday, interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin used his official account on X, Elon Musk's social media site, to erroneously describe federal prosecutors as "President Trump's 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," Martin wrote.
Martin's post drew a sharp rebuke from Democratic U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, who retorted that "the U.S. attorney for D.C. is not 'President Trump's lawyer' and its job is not to 'protect his leadership' nor prosecute people who 'refuse to put America first.'"
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AP Sues Trump Officials for Retaliatory Blocking of Reporters
The news outlet has been barred from presidential events for refusing to call the Gulf of Mexico by the president's chosen name, "the Gulf of America."
Feb 21, 2025
Accusing the White House of a "targeted attack" on editorial independence that "strikes at the very core of the First Amendment," The Associated Press on Friday filed a lawsuit against three Trump administration officials over its blocked access to all presidential events.
The administration announced earlier this month that AP reporters would not be permitted to cover press events at the White House, Mar-a-Lago, or on Air Force One due to its editorial decision to continue referring to the Gulf of Mexico by the name that has been internationally recognized for more than 400 years.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order in January stating that the Gulf of Mexico would be renamed the Gulf of America. Trump has the authority to change a body of water's name for official government purposes, and some bodies of water are called by different names in different countries—for example, the Gulf of California is known as the Sea of Cortez in Mexico.
The AP said it would acknowledge Trump's chosen name for the body of water, but continue officially referring to it as the Gulf of Mexico.
"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."
As Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said this month as she threatened to sue Google for changing the Gulf of Mexico's names in its maps feature, the U.S. does not have sovereignty over the body of water, and Trump cannot unilaterally order other entities to call it by his chosen name.
The AP on Friday said in its lawsuit that "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."
The suit names White House Chief of Staff Susan Wiles, Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich, and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who has said in briefings that it is "a fact" that the body of water off the western coast of Florida and the southern coasts of several other states is called the Gulf of America.
The news outlet called on the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. to stop the White House from blocking its journalists from gathering news at presidential events.
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