Karoline Leavitt announces White House will assume direct control of daily press pool after AP loses in court

WASHINGTON — White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Tuesday that President Trump’s administration will take direct control of the composition of the daily press pool after winning an initial court decision Monday over its two-week exclusion of the Associated Press.The change sets aside decades of historical deference to the White House Correspondents’ Association, but it’s unclear to what extent the move actually will change the mix of reporters given close access to Trump.“It’s beyond time that the White House press operation reflects the media habits of the American people in 2025, not 1925.A select group of DC-based journalists should no longer have a monopoly over the privilege of press access at the White House,” Leavitt said at a press briefing.“So by deciding which outlets make up the limited press pool on a day-to-day basis, the White House will be restoring power back to the American people who President Trump was elected to serve.”Federal Judge Trevor McFadden declined to give the AP a temporary restraining order Monday restoring the outlet to the pool, from which it was barred by Trump officials for declining to update its influential Stylebook to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” pursuant to Trump’s official renaming.“F–k the AP.

They screwed us all,” exclaimed one journalist who participates in the press pool.The correspondents’ association has held significant informal power over the past century, largely as a byproduct of carefully picking battles with presidents and avoiding public fights in favor of closed-door talks to resolve disagreements on access.Association president Eugene Daniels of Politico said Leavitt’s announcement “tears at the independence of a free press in the United States.”“It suggests the government will choose the journalists who cover the president. In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps,” Daniels said.“For gener...