BREAKING: Karoline Leavitt Strips White House Correspondents’ Association of Its “Monopoly” Over White House Press Access, Announces New Plans to Expand Press Pool to New Media (VIDEO)
February 25, 2025
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced today that the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) will no longer hold its iron grip over deciding which outlets get a seat in the coveted White House press pool.
“This administration is shaking up Washington in more ways than one,” Leavitt said, noting, “that’s what we were elected to do.”
“A select group of DC-based journalists should no longer have a monopoly over the privilege of press access at the White House,” she added in reference to the White House Correspondents’ Association.
She said the WHCA “has long dictated which journalists get to ask questions of the President of the United States in these most intimate spaces,” but “not anymore.”
As The Gateway Pundit reported, the Associated Press asked a federal judge to grant an emergency Temporary Restraining Order against the Trump Administration and restore its access to areas in the White House after the far-left outlet was booted from the Oval Office this month over its refusal to acknowledge President Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America.”
Even Google and Apple have acknowledged the name change, but the leftist outlet didn’t want to recognize the Gulf’s new legal name.
On Monday, a federal judge denied the Associated Press’s emergency motion to restore its access to the White House press pool.
Leavitt responded to this news Monday, stating, “Covering the American presidency in the most intimate and limited spaces in this White House, in the Oval Office, on Air Force One is a privilege.” Leavitt continued, “It is not a legal right.”
The Gateway Pundit recently reported that before the AP filed its lawsuit, the WHCA’s President attacked the White House in a statement, claiming that “the White House is seeking to curtail the press freedoms enshrined in our Constitution.”
We noted how the leftist WHCA, led by Eugene Daniels, a liberal reporter for Politico, is ironically crying foul over the AP losing its privilege to access the Oval Office, an area that many other reporters, including this author, have been unable to access due to a lack of space and restrictions placed by the WHCA.
Triggered White House Correspondents’ Association President Attacks Trump Administration After Far-Left Associated Press is Once Again Barred From Accessing White House Press Event
In the past, they’ve had no problem with a conservative reporter being censored by the Biden Regime or bullied by their members in the White House. Now that a liberal regime media member is facing an inconvenience, they’re up in arms. Daniels is also probably lashing out at the White House over the Department of Government Efficiency's recently discovered USAID payments to his far-left news organization.
But Karoline Leavitt announced that the WHCA will no longer dictate who gets to be part of the press pool.
WATCH:
Leavitt: As you all saw yesterday, a federal judge denied the Associated Press's emergency motion for a temporary restraining order against myself, our Deputy Chief of Staff, Taylor Budowich, and our Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles for our decision to remove the associated press from the White House press pool for certain and special events.
The judge's ruling, upholding our decision to deny the Associated Press such privileged access, reinforces the truth. And it reiterates what I said from this podium last week when that suit was filed.
Asking the President of the United States questions in limited spaces, such as the Oval Office and Air Force One, is a privilege that, unfortunately, has only been granted to a few. It is not a legal right for all.
The Trump administration has already proven to be the most transparent ever, and this president, the most accessible in history.
This is evidenced by President Trump's daily press conferences in the Oval Office, where he takes many questions from the journalists who have the honor and privilege of standing before the beautiful resolute desk.
The President and this entire White House are committed to ensuring the American people continue to receive this same level of historic transparency, access, and visibility.
In fact, we want to double down and give even greater access to the American people. We want more outlets and new outlets to have a chance to take part in the press pool, to cover this administration's unprecedented achievements up close, front and center.
As you all know, for decades, a group of DC-based journalists, the White House Correspondents Association, has long dictated which journalists get to ask questions of the President of the United States in these most intimate spaces. Not anymore.
I am proud to announce that we are going to give the power back to the people who read your papers, who watch your television shows, and who listen to your radio stations.
Moving forward, the White House press pool will be determined by the White House press team. Legacy outlets who have participated in the press pool for decades will still be allowed to join, fear not.
But we will also be offering the privilege to well-deserving outlets who have never been allowed to share in this awesome responsibility.
Just like we added a new media seat in this briefing room, legacy media outlets who have been here for years will still participate in the pool, but new voices are going to be welcomed in as well.
As part of these changes, we will continue the rotation amongst the five major television networks to ensure the President's remarks are heard far and wide around this world.
We will add additional streaming services, which reach different audiences than traditional cable and broadcast. This is the ever changing landscape of the media in the United States today.
We will continue to rotate a print pooler who has the great responsibility of quickly transcribing the President's remarks and disseminating them to the rest of the world. And we will add outlets to the print pool rotation who have long been denied the privilege to partake in this experience but are committed to covering this White House beat.
We will continue to rotate a radio pooler and add other radio hosts who have been denied access, especially local radio hosts who serve as the heartbeat of our country.
And we will add additional outlets and reporters who are well suited to cover the news of the day and ask substantive questions of the President of the United States, depending on the news he is making on that given day.
This administration is shaking up Washington in more ways than one. That's what we were elected to do. As I have said since the first day behind this podium, 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. All journalists, outlets, and voices deserve a seat at this highly coveted table. 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.
The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) board for the 2024–2025 term is packed with members tied to far-left news media.
Officers:
- President: Eugene Daniels, Politico
- Vice President: Weijia Jiang, CBS News
- Treasurer: Sara Cook, CBS News
- Secretary: Justin Sink, Bloomberg News
Board Members:
- Andrew Harnik, Getty Images
- Jacqui Heinrich, Fox News
- Trevor Hunnicutt, Reuters
- Courtney Subramanian, BBC
- Karen Travers, ABC News
Executive Director:
In 2020, the far-left garbage website Washington Post wrote a hit piece on The Gateway Pundit, The Epoch Times, and OANN for crashing their White House party. The far-left media STILL believes they are entitled to promote the news narrative in America today.
In the same year, the White House Correspondents Association removed One America News Network from the rotation of press outlets granted seats at the daily White House coronavirus task force briefings after OANN reporter Chanel Rion allegedly violated in-house rules by twice showing up at the briefings without an assigned seat.
This is the same organization that refused to grant The Gateway Pundit official credentials during the Biden regime.
These are the same nasty, vile people who physically and verbally attacked The Gateway Pundit reporter in 2017.
Jon Decker from FOX News Radio accosted The Gateway Pundit’s Lucian Wintrich. Decker then reportedly began “screaming” and pointing, accusing Lucian of being a “Nazi” and claiming that The Gateway Pundit is a “white supremacist” website!
“This man accosted me. He pushed me in the back room and then grabbed my arm. He started screaming to the entire press room that I’m a Nazi and The Gateway Pundit is a white supremacist publication," Wintrich said at the time.
Read more:
Gateway Pundit Reporter ACCOSTED, HARASSED — Screamed At in White House Press Room: “Nazi… White Supremacist!”
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