The Associated Press was furious on Tuesday after the White House disallowed the outlet’s reporter from joining President Donald Trump and the king of Jordan’s press gaggle in the Oval Office.
The White House apparently denied the organization access because it refuses to officially and fully recognize Gulf of America’s name change from the Gulf of Mexico.During the press event, King Abdullah II of Jordan announced his country would help 2,000 Palestinians with medical care, an announcement that Trump praised and said was new information to him.Associate Press Executive Editor Tara Copp whined on X:Today our @AP White House reporter was denied access to the Oval Office because the Associated Press recognizes the international body of water on our southern coastline as the Gulf of Mexico, while acknowledging President Donald Trump’s order to rename it the Gulf of America.
The Associated Press announced in January its style guide will recognize the renaming of the “Gulf of Mexico” to the “Gulf of America” but said it will use both the Gulf of America and the Gulf of Mexico to identify the body of water.
The organization’s decision is in contrast to Google Maps and Apple Maps, which now identify the body of water by its rightful name: the Gulf of America.
Its refusal to go along with the name change comes as the Associated Press often updates its style guide to reflect changes. For instance, during the Black Lives Matter riots in 2020, the AP changed the spelling of black people to “Black” people.
Copp further complained about being excluded from the gaggle in an official statement posted on its website:
As a global news organization, The Associated Press informs billions of people around the world every day with factual, nonpartisan journalism.
Today we were informed by the White House that if AP did not align its editorial standards with President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, AP would be barred from accessing an event in the Oval Office. This afternoon AP’s reporter was blocked from attending an executive order signing.
It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism. 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.
Today our @AP White House reporter was denied access to the Oval Office because the Associated Press recognizes the international body of water on our southern coastline as the Gulf of Mexico, while acknowledging President Donald Trump's order to rename it the Gulf of America.…
— Tara Copp (@TaraCopp) February 11, 2025
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former RNC War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.
