The United States Court of Appeal rejected on Tuesday rejected the appeal brought by the Associated Press for an audience on its efforts to restore full access to the coverage of presidential events. In doing so, it does not end its legal action, but allows the White House to maintain its control over access to President Donald Trump.
The news agency wanted the Court to cancel the decision rendered on June 6 by a panel of three judges prohibiting the AP from returning to events until the bottom of his complaint against Donald Trump is decided. But the court refused on Tuesday to examine this call.
All this stems from Donald Trump’s decision in February, to exclude journalists from the PA from the Oval Office, Air Force One and other too small events to welcome a complete press team, in retaliation for the news agency’s decision not to follow his example and change the name of the Gulf of Mexico.
The AP reacted by instituting legal action. In April, a district court ruled that the administration could not exclude journalists because of their opinions. The Trump administration immediately seized the United States Court of Appeal to postpone the application of the decision before the Court could examine the case on the merits.
Next step: this fall, the Court of Appeal will examine these cases at the bottom.
“We are disappointed by today’s procedural decision, but we are concentrated on the firm opinion of the district court in favor of freedom of expression during the hearing,” said Patrick Maks, AP spokesperson. As we have always said, the press and the public have the fundamental right to express themselves freely without reprisals from the government. »»
The White House did not immediately respond to a comment request.
Since the start of the case, the White House has established new rules for access to events at the limited space. AP photographers were regularly allowed to come back, but its reporters only occasionally.
On Monday, the White House said that it would not allow a journalist of the Wall Street Journal to board Air Force One to cover Donald Trump’s trip to Scotland last weekend, due to the “false and defamatory behavior” of the media in an article on the president and the deceased financial Jeffrey Epstein.
