President Donald Trump hailed a major legal victory on Friday after a federal appeals court ruled that the White House may restrict the Associated Press (AP) from accessing the Oval Office, Mar-a-Lago, Air Force One, and other tightly controlled areas, amid a months-long feud over the administration’s renaming of the Gulf of Mexico.
The ruling effectively grants the Trump administration discretion over which media organizations are allowed into certain privileged spaces, including smaller press pools traditionally selected by the White House Correspondents Association. The court found that such areas are not public forums and do not guarantee universal media access.
The dispute erupted in February after the White House revoked the AP’s pool access in retaliation for the outlet’s refusal to comply with Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. The AP, which manages the widely used Associated Press Stylebook, declined to adopt the terminology based on the longevity of Gulf of Mexico.
“The court has allowed the Trump administration to bar the AP from certain spaces,” CNN reported following the ruling, which overturned a lower court decision that had temporarily blocked the restriction.
“We are disappointed in the court’s decision and are reviewing our options,” an AP spokesperson said in a brief statement.
“VICTORY! As we’ve said all along, the Associated Press is not guaranteed special access to cover President Trump in the Oval Office, aboard Air Force One, or in other sensitive locations.”
“Thousands of other journalists have never been afforded the opportunity to cover the President in these privileged spaces,” she added. “Moving forward, we will continue to expand access to new media so that more people can cover the most transparent President in American history rather than just the failing legacy media. And by the way @AP, it’s still the Gulf of America.”
The AP’s removal marks a broader shift in how media outlets are prioritized under Trump’s second term. Hundreds of reporters still retain “hard passes” for the White House briefing room and press workspace, but fewer are granted proximity to the president himself.
The ruling and Trump’s renewed efforts to sideline legacy media come amid a larger shift in media dynamics. Ratings have sharply declined across most major cable news networks in 2025 — particularly MSNBC and CNN — while Fox News remains the only major outlet experiencing viewership growth, according to recent Nielsen data. The administration has increasingly turned to smaller digital-first media platforms and podcasts to bypass traditional news filters.
While critics call the ruling a blow to press freedom, Trump allies argue it is a long-overdue correction to what they describe as institutional media bias.
“Call it what you want,” one senior official told reporters Friday. “But in the People’s House, it’s the Gulf of America now.”
