(Washington) Donald Trump’s White House can, for the moment, block access by journalists from the Associated Press agency to certain areas as close as possible to the American president, judged a court of appeal on Friday.
This decision, which provides a trial judgment, is a “big victory” praised on its Truth Social Donald Trump network, launched in an open war against the mainstream media.
Pillar of journalism in the United States, AP had been excluded in February from the Oval Office and the Air Force presidential plane for its refusal to comply with the new name of the Gulf of Mexico, renamed “Gulf of America” by a decree signed by Donald Trump.
The agency, denouncing an attack on press freedom, had filed a complaint and had won at first instance, a judge summarizing the White House to restore its access.
But, seized by the executive, a court of appeal suspended this judgment on Friday and proved to Donald Trump on Friday, until the legal proceedings go to the end.
“These limited presidential spaces are not places protected by the first amendment” of the American Constitution, which protects freedom from the press and expression, notes the judgment.
“The power to determine, including depending on the point of view, which journalists will be admitted to it is at the discretion of the White House,” write the two magistrates of the Capital Court of Appeal in their decision.
The Associated Press agency, founded in 1846, employs more than 3000 people around the world and is very influential in the United States, where its dispatches and photographs are taken up by many press titles across the country.
Since his return to power in January, Donald Trump and his relatives have attacked the press on several fronts with legal proceedings and budget cuts affecting public media, accused of being marked on the left.
With this decision, “we will continue to extend access to new media so that more people can cover the most transparent government in the history of America, rather than the failing traditional media,” reacted on X Karoline Leavitt, spokesperson for the White House.
These “new media” welcomed by the American executive are for many influencers sympathizing with the Republican.
