Washington, February 27 (RHC)-- The White House has announced plans to hand-pick the pool reporters who will be allowed to ask President Trump questions, breaking from decades of precedent that saw the White House Correspondents’ Association determine which journalists have close access to the president. 

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the changes on Tuesday. saying: “A select group of D.C.-based journalists should no longer have a monopoly over the privilege of press access at the White House.  All journalists, outlets and voices deserve a seat at this highly coveted table.  So, by deciding which outlets make up the limited press pool on a day-to-day basis, the White House will be restoring power back to the American people.”

The White House Correspondents’ Association condemned the changes, writing, “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.  In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps.” 

On Monday, a federal judge denied a request from the Associated Press for a temporary restraining order, after the Trump administration cut off AP’s access to cover major events at the White House unless it agrees to follow Trump’s order that it refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.”