Donald Trump and AP

The Associated Press was shut out of an executive order signing on Tuesday because of their refusal to call the body of water to the west of Florida the “Gulf of America.”

“It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism,” Julie Pace, the executive editor of AP, said in a statement. “Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP’s speech not only severely impedes the public’s access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment.”

The White House informed AP on Tuesday that if the news agency did not start referring to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, they would be banned from accessing an event in the Oval Office. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In late January,

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