Judge orders Trump White House to restore access to AP
A U.S. judge has ordered President Donald Trump’s White House to lift access restrictions imposed on the Associated Press over the news agency’s decision to continue to refer to the Gulf of Mexico in its coverage.
A new portrait of President Donald Trump pumping his fist after a 2024 assassination attempt is now hanging in the White House.
The artwork appears to be based on an iconic Associated Press photo taken by the news agency’s Pulitzer prize-winning chief photographer in Washington, D.C., Evan Vucci.
In it, Trump rises from a huddle of Secret Service agents with a trickle of blood on his cheek and an American flag flying above him. Vucci snapped the photo during Trump’s July 13 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, after a 20-year-old gunman opened fire. A bullet grazed Trump’s ear.
The Trump administration – which is locked in a legal battle with the Associated Press over media access – didn’t name the artist or the news agency in a social media post on Friday announcing the new artwork.
A White House official confirmed the new portrait hangs in the White House State Floor, replacing a portrait of President Barack Obama.
The Obama portrait has been relocated across the foyer.
The image of Trump’s fist pump after the assassination attempt became rallying cry and a campaign symbol, appearing on t-shirts, mugs and other merchandise at the president’s rallies.
In February, the White House barred Associated Press reporters and photographers, including Vucci, from certain events after the global news agency declined to rename the “Gulf of Mexico” in its articles. Trump has ordered the body of water be called the “Gulf of America” in an executive order.
The Associated Press sued, arguing the bar amounts to a violation of the First Amendment right to free speech. On Tuesday, a federal judge ordered the White House to restore full access to the Associated Press.