Associated Press humiliates Trump in court with stinging example of his hypocrisy.
Associated Press humiliates Trump in court with stinging example of his hypocrisy
By
Matt Arco | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Published: Mar. 28, 2025, 10:39 a.m.
President Donald Trump and his administration are at war with the wire news service The Associated Press.
It began when the AP refused to change its style guide by renaming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” after Trump insisted on the rebrand, which prompted the administration to bar AP reporters from various events inside the White House.
The AP is suing the administration for punishing a news organization for using speech that it doesn’t like under the First Amendment.
Perhaps the most perfectly Trumpian moment came when Tobin held up a large coffee-table-size book. On the cover was a photograph from Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last summer, when he was nearly killed by an assassin’s bullet and thrust his fist in the air, shouting “Fight! Fight!” before being rushed off the stage. Evan Vucci, the A.P.’s chief White House photographer, was testifying at the time. Tobin asked Vucci to identify the book—“Save America,” by Donald J. Trump—before asking him if he recognized the photo. Vucci said it was his own award-winning picture of that historic moment. “He used your photo on the cover?” Tobin asked. Yes, Vucci replied. “He used my photo on the cover.”
Could there be anything more on-brand for this President than banning the A.P. from the Oval Office for refusing to grant him veto power over their editorial standards, while, at the same time, marketing himself with one of their pictures? The book, published last September, currently retails for $92.52 on Amazon.
In a hearing last month, U.S. District Court Judge Trevor N. McFadden refused the AP’s request for an injunction to stop the White House from barring reporters and photographers from events in the Oval Office and Air Force One. He urged the Trump administration to reconsider its ban before Thursday’s hearing. It hasn’t.
“It seems pretty clearly viewpoint discrimination,” McFadden told the government’s attorney at the time.
“For anyone who thinks the Associated Press’s lawsuit against President Trump’s White House is about the name of a body of water, think bigger,” Julie Pace, the AP’s executive editor, wrote in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. “It’s really about whether the government can control what you say.”
The case is one of several aggressive moves the second Trump administration has taken against the press since his return to office, including FCC investigations against ABC, CBS and NBC News, dismantling the government-run Voice of America and threatening funding for public broadcasters PBS and NPR.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
By
Matt Arco | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Published: Mar. 28, 2025, 10:39 a.m.
President Donald Trump and his administration are at war with the wire news service The Associated Press.
It began when the AP refused to change its style guide by renaming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” after Trump insisted on the rebrand, which prompted the administration to bar AP reporters from various events inside the White House.
The AP is suing the administration for punishing a news organization for using speech that it doesn’t like under the First Amendment.
Perhaps the most perfectly Trumpian moment came when Tobin held up a large coffee-table-size book. On the cover was a photograph from Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last summer, when he was nearly killed by an assassin’s bullet and thrust his fist in the air, shouting “Fight! Fight!” before being rushed off the stage. Evan Vucci, the A.P.’s chief White House photographer, was testifying at the time. Tobin asked Vucci to identify the book—“Save America,” by Donald J. Trump—before asking him if he recognized the photo. Vucci said it was his own award-winning picture of that historic moment. “He used your photo on the cover?” Tobin asked. Yes, Vucci replied. “He used my photo on the cover.”
Could there be anything more on-brand for this President than banning the A.P. from the Oval Office for refusing to grant him veto power over their editorial standards, while, at the same time, marketing himself with one of their pictures? The book, published last September, currently retails for $92.52 on Amazon.
In a hearing last month, U.S. District Court Judge Trevor N. McFadden refused the AP’s request for an injunction to stop the White House from barring reporters and photographers from events in the Oval Office and Air Force One. He urged the Trump administration to reconsider its ban before Thursday’s hearing. It hasn’t.
“It seems pretty clearly viewpoint discrimination,” McFadden told the government’s attorney at the time.
“For anyone who thinks the Associated Press’s lawsuit against President Trump’s White House is about the name of a body of water, think bigger,” Julie Pace, the AP’s executive editor, wrote in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. “It’s really about whether the government can control what you say.”
The case is one of several aggressive moves the second Trump administration has taken against the press since his return to office, including FCC investigations against ABC, CBS and NBC News, dismantling the government-run Voice of America and threatening funding for public broadcasters PBS and NPR.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
