White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt revealed Friday that she discovered she was being sued by the Associated Press as she was on her way to a major conservative conference.
She described how she quickly telephoned White House lawyers to find out what she could and couldn’t say.
But she had her response ready amid the tussle over AP complaints that its First Amendment rights were being infringed by exclusion from President Donald Trump’s events.
‘We feel we are in the right in this position,’ she said. ‘And I said in my first briefing at the podium, we are going to ensure that truth and accuracy is present at that White House, every single day.’
Minutes earlier, it emerged that the AP was suing three administration officials after being barred for the past 10 days.
The case was filed on Friday afternoon in US district court in Washington DC.
The AP says the ban is an unconstitutional effort by the White House to control speech – in this case refusing to change its style from the Gulf of Mexico to the ‘Gulf of America”, as President Donald Trump did last month with an executive order.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt hit back at the AP lawsuit on Friday. She is seen here at the White House earlier in the day
President Donald Trump appeared in the Oval Office on Friday alongside the ‘Gulf of America’ sign. The Associated Press has been banned from covering events and flying on Air Force One over their refusal to change the style guide from Gulf of Mexico to ‘Gulf of America’
Alongside Leavitt, the suit names White House chief of staff Susan Wiles, deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich.
The president shrugged off a legal threat during an address to Republican governors Thursday night.
Leavitt delivered her response at the Conservative Political Action Conference just outside Washington, D.C., where she set out the White House communications strategy.
‘We are on offense every single day, and the president leads from an offensive mindset,’ she said.
‘We are not going to apologize for cutting waste, fraud and abuse from our government. We we are not going to apologize for mass deporting illegal immigrant criminals who have broken our nation’s laws and terrorized our communities.’
She took delight in aiming a barb at Jim Acosta, one of the reporters who became famous during the first Trump term for sparring with her predecessors.
People browse Trump merchandise on sale at the Conservative Political Action Conference
‘He’s been saying some not so nice things about me online, and I’ve resisted responding,’ she told Mercedes Schlapp.
‘But since you brought him up, I’d like to say, let’s go, Jim, at least I have a job.’
Acosta announced he was leaving CNN three weeks ago, after a shakeup meant his show was relegated to the midnight hour.
The conference wraps up Saturday with a headline appearance by Trump.
