White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt got blunt with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Wednesday over her advocacy for an AP reporter who was barred from the Oval Office last night because the organization refused to acknowledge the “Gulf of America” — despite it being officially renamed.
“Which White House official made the decision to bar the AP reporter from the Oval Office and the diplomatic reception room last night?” Collins asked.
Leavitt fired back: “Well, first of all, let me just set the record straight. It is a privilege to cover this White House. It’s a privilege to be the White House press secretary, and nobody has the right to go into the Oval Office and ask the President of the United States questions. That’s an invitation that is given.”
“And there are hundreds of outlets on this campus, many of you in this room who don’t have the privilege of being part of that pool every single day and getting to ask the president questions,” she continued. “We reserve the right to decide who gets to go into the Oval Office, and you all have credentials to be here, including the Associated Press who is in this briefing room today.”
Collins suggested that it was “retaliatory in nature” to bar the reporter over the organization refusing to acknowledge reality.
“Is this setting a precedent that this White House will retaliate against reporters who don’t use the language that you guys believe reporters should use, and how does that align with the First Amendment commitment that you were just talking about?” Collins asked.
“I was very upfront in my briefing on day one, that if we feel that there are lies being pushed by outlets in this room, we are going to hold those lies accountable,” Leavitt responded. “And it is a fact that the body of water off the coast of Louisiana is called the Gulf of America, and I’m not sure why news outlets don’t want to call it that, but that is what it is.”
“The Secretary of Interior has made that the official designation in the geographical identification name server and Apple has recognized that, Google has recognized that, pretty much every other outlet in this room has recognized that body of water as the Gulf of America,” she continued. “And it’s very important to this administration that we get that right, not just for people here at home, but also for the rest of the world.”
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