“Moving forward, the White House press pool will be determined by the White House press team,” Leavitt said during a briefing from the press room Tuesday.
“We will add outlets to the print pool rotation who have long been denied,” Leavitt said, and continue to rotate a radio pool reporter and local hosts “who serve as the heartbeat of the country.” Leavitt promised reporters would be able to “ask substantive questions of the president of the United States.”
For decades, that responsibility had been held by the White House Correspondents’ Association.
The action stems from developments in a lawsuit filed by The Associated Press last week. The White House banned the AP from from Oval Office briefings and from the wire-service seat on Air Force One after the news agency refused to acknowledge Trump's declaration of renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
AP has said its style would retain the “Gulf of Mexico” name but also would note Trump's decision. Another Trump executive order to change the name of the United States’ largest mountain back to Mount McKinley from Denali is being recognized by the AP Stylebook. Trump has the authority to do so because the mountain is completely within the country he oversees, AP has said.
