White House Hangs ‘Victory’ Signs In Press Room After Judge Hands Trump Admin Huge Win in AP Lawsuit

Earlier today, a federal judge handed President Trump’s White House a big victory in AP’s lawsuit against his administration for barring their reporters from the White House.

As you’ll recall, reporters from the Associated Press have been banned from press events because their styling guide refuses to refer to the newly-renamed Gulf of America by its new name.

AP sued the several top Trump officials over this, accusing them of violating the 1st and 5th amendment.

But, the judge overseeing the case doesn’t seem to keen on that argument.

Judge Trevor N. McFadden, a Trump appointee, has just refused to force the White House to let AP reporters back in.

In his ruling, he said that AP’s predicament is “not the type of dire situation” to require emergency intervention.

JUST IN: Judge McFadden has *denied* the AP’s emergency motion to restore its access to WH press pool events but has ordered expedited consideration of the matter given the weighty issues at the heart of it.

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) February 24, 2025

This is awesome!

But then, things got even more amazing…

In response to the huge win, The White House put up signs bearing an image of the Gulf of America in the press room with the word “VICTORY” stamped across.

Take a look at this:

MUST WATCH Current view of the White House Briefing Room after the AP loses against President Trump, allowing him to ban them from the Oval Office and Air Force One

The AP was banned over their refusal to acknowledge the Gulf of America 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/hkLb30VakS

— Ape𝕏 (@CubanOnlyTrump) February 24, 2025

🚨 JUST IN: The scene from the White House press briefing room after judge allows a continue on Trump’s ban on the AP from entering the Oval Office and Air Force One.

The AP refuses to call the Gulf, “Gulf of America.”

Glorious. pic.twitter.com/kHhbRnF3c1

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) February 24, 2025

https://twitter.com/johnnymaga/status/1894154027698450811?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1894154027698450811%7Ctwgr%5E838ce01122f4d7e6632615e33a0136020cc3214e%7Ctwcon%5Es1&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwltreport.com%2F2025%2F02%2F24%2Fwhite-house-hangs-victory-signs-press-room-after%2F

Absolutely epic.

Let these signs serve as a warning to other publications not to follow in the footsteps of AP…

Axios reported:

A judge on Monday rejected the Associated Press’ emergency motion to rescind the White House ban against its access to some press events, as he sought more details on the circumstances surrounding the case.

Why it matters: It’s a win for the White House — at least for now — as they seek to restrict the AP’s access, following the news organization’s decision to use Gulf of Mexico rather than Gulf of America.

Driving the news: In a hearing on Monday afternoon, Judge Trevor McFadden requested more details about the events that the AP has been barred from and the number of reporters allowed into larger events.

• McFadden didn’t find any reason to immediately stop the administration’s ban, but he said that case law seems to be against it.

The big picture: The ruling comes after the White House asked the judge to allow it to continue barring the AP from some press events. It argued in a court filing on Monday that access to the president is at his discretion and not a constitutional right.

• The filing said that just because the AP “may have long received special media access to the president does not mean that such access is constitutionally compelled in perpetuity.”
• The White House hailed the judge’s order, saying in a statement, “asking the president of the United States questions in the Oval Office and aboard Air Force One is a privilege granted to journalists, not a legal right.”

The New York Times has more details on the ruling:

A federal judge cleared the way on Monday for the White House to continue barring The Associated Press from covering news events with President Trump, extending a legal fight over freedom of speech and press access, which Mr. Trump has long sought to challenge.

The Associated Press sued several top Trump administration officials last week, accusing them of violating the First and Fifth Amendments by barring its reporters from press events. The White House began turning away the wire service’s reporters this month, raising objections to its editorial decision to continue to refer to the Gulf of Mexico in its coverage, rather than calling the body of water the Gulf of America.

Judge Trevor N. McFadden of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, who was appointed by Mr. Trump, said The Associated Press’s circumstances were “not the type of dire situation” that would require emergency intervention against the White House, in part because the organization could still report the news through shared reports sent out to all media organizations in the White House Correspondents’ Association.

While Judge McFadden said he was hesitant to immediately force the Trump administration’s hand, he seemed sympathetic to arguments against the White House, including that its actions appeared to be intended to coerce or punish the news organization over a language choice, which, he repeatedly said, amounted to “viewpoint discrimination.”

After reading his ruling, he warned the lawyer representing the Trump administration that legal precedent from other cases in which the White House had banned specific reporters was “uniformly unhelpful to the White House.” He ordered an expedited hearing to consider an injunction against the Trump administration, ahead of which both sides could introduce more evidence.