Shortly afterward, senior White House advisor Jason Miller said on X: “R.I.P. @WHCA 1914-2025” along with a picture of mourners bearing a coffin.
“FREE COUNTRY”
The press pool on the presidential jet consists of 13 newspaper and wire service journalists, photographers and TV and radio reporters, while for events in the White House itself it is slightly larger.
Some organisations have permanent places while others rotate through positions. Details of the White House’s changes weren’t immediately available.
WHCA President Eugene Daniels criticised the move, saying the White House had not given any advance notification.
“This move tears at the independence of a free press in the United States. It suggests the government will choose the journalists who cover the president,” Daniels said in a statement.
“In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps.”
Fox News Senior White House Correspondent Jacqui Heinrich, a WHCA board member, said on X: “This move does not give the power back to the people – it gives power to the White House.”
The move is the latest in a series of controversial attempts by Trump to stamp his mark on everything from the US bureaucracy to the media since his second term began on Jan 20.
The White House began blocking Associated Press journalists from presidential events two weeks ago over the Gulf of Mexico row.
A US judge on Monday declined to immediately order the White House to restore full access to the agency, but set a date next month for a more extensive hearing.
Source: CNA
