White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that the Trump administration retaliated against The Associated Press because the news agency declined to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America despite President Donald Trump's executive order on the body of water.
During Wednesday's White House briefing, CNN's Kaitlan Collins noted that officials refused to allow the AP's reporter to cover an event on Tuesday.
"Which White House official made the decision to bar the AP reporter from the Oval Office and the diplomatic reception room last night?" Collins asked.
"It is a privilege to cover this White House," Leavitt insisted. "And nobody has the right to go into the Oval Office and ask the President of the United States questions. That's an invitation that is given."
"But isn't it retaliatory in nature is the argument?" Collins pressed. "Because the reason that the AP was barred, which they said was because they're not using the phrase Gulf of America, they're using Gulf of Mexico in line with their standards."
"And so the question here is, is this setting a precedent that this White House will retaliate against reporters who don't use the language that you guys believe reporters should use?" she added. "And how does that align with the First Amendment commitment that you were just talking about?"
Leavitt responded by accusing the AP of pushing "lies" by using the phrase Gulf of Mexico.
"It is a fact that the body of water off the coast of Louisiana is called the Gulf of America," she insisted. "And I'm not sure why news outlets don't want to call it that, but that is what it is."
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"And Apple has recognized that. Google has recognized that," she added. "And it's very important to this administration that we get that right, not just for people here at home, but also for the rest of the world."
The AP has said that it declined to use the name Gulf of America because it was a global news agency.
"[T]he AP must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences," the outlet explained in its style guidance.
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