Senators Slam White House For ‘Petty’ Decision To Bar Associated Press Reporters

WASHINGTON ― The White House’s decision to restrict The Associated Press’ press access because the global nonprofit news outlet’s editors refused to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” is drawing criticism on Capitol Hill.

“I guess different administrations have barred different reporters from press conferences for a long period of time, depending on who they like. It seems pretty petty to me,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said Thursday.

Murkowski also objected to Trump’s order changing the Indigenous name of North America’s highest mountain, Denali, back to Mt. McKinley, the name many non-Alaskans had used before the Obama administration changed it. She reintroduced legislation that would codify “Denali” into law.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), meanwhile, offered a more forceful condemnation of the decision to bar the AP from attending events at the White House, calling it a “red alert moment” for democracy under the Trump administration.

“The freedom of the press is in the fucking Constitution and they are banning outlets from covering the White House because those outlets don’t do exactly what the administration tells them to do,” Murphy told HuffPost.

The senator added of the president: “He doesn’t own the White House. The White House is owned by the people of this country. That press room and the seat Senate are owned by the American people, and it’s not like the freedom of the press was a suggestion by our founding fathers.”

“I just think people kind of need to get a sense of urgency about what’s about to happen here,” he added.

On Thursday, an AP reporter was barred from attending a press event at the White House for a third day in a row: Trump’s joint press conference with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

AP Executive Editor Julie Pace called it “a deeply troubling escalation of the administration’s continued efforts to punish The Associated Press for its editorial decisions” and said it was a disservice to the news agency’s many readers.

The AP — which was established in 1846 and whose reports are widely republished by news organizations around the world, including HuffPost — said after Trump’s executive order that they would continue to refer to the body of water as the Gulf of Mexico while also acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen for it. Mexico has rejected the name change and threatened to sue Google Maps for changing the name on its platform.

“As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences,” the AP said in a statement last month.

In 2009, President Barack Obama’s White House attempted to bar the conservative network Fox News from an interview with a top White House official. They relented after unanimous protests from other cable networks, including CNN, ABC, CBS and NBC.

Brit Hume, the chief political analyst for Fox News, objected to the Trump White House’s decision to bar the AP from press events earlier this week.

“I agree,” Hume wrote online, indicating his support for a statement calling the White House move an “alarming attack on press freedom.”