CNN
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A federal judge declined on Monday to temporarily restore the Associated Press’ access to some of President Donald Trump’s events, the Oval Office and Air Force One.
US District Judge Trevor McFadden turned down a request from AP to temporarily lift a ban Trump imposed earlier this month to punish the news organization over its decision to continue using the phrase “Gulf of Mexico” even though Trump renamed the body of water “Gulf of America.”
But while McFadden denied the request for a temporary restraining order during a hearing Monday, the judge scheduled a hearing for March 20 to hear arguments over the AP’s request for a preliminary injunction.
McFadden, of the US District Court in Washington, DC, was appointed by Trump in 2017.
McFadden gave a number of reasons for why he decided to deny the request for emergency relief at this stage in the litigation, including that he wasn’t persuaded that the AP was facing “irreparable harm” as a result of the ban.
He said the news organization “can get access to the same information” from the pool notes that are given to all members of the White House Correspondents Association even if it’s barred from being at the events where that news is made.
And he said the organization’s delay in bringing its lawsuit were evidence that it wasn’t being injured in a way that necessitated his intervention more than a week after the White House instituted the ban.
During the hearing, however, the judge appeared somewhat skeptical of the legality of the ban, describing it at one point as “discriminatory” and “problematic.”
And while he repeatedly seemed confused by how the pool is set up, at one point he said that the White House “has accepted the White House Correspondent Association’s ability to be the referee here.”
This story is breaking and will be updated.
