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Report says White House clash with AP was also tied to Butler photo rights
According to The New York Times, aides to Donald Trump linked the Associated Press ban to a dispute over the rights to the widely shared image taken after the Butler, Pennsylvania attack. AP told Fox News it is focused on defending press freedom against government retaliation.
Donald Trump‘s administration also targeted the Associated Press over the rights to the photograph taken after the attack at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, according to a The New York Times report cited by Fox News Politics.
AP had already been in conflict with Trump’s White House after it was barred from the Oval Office and Air Force One shortly after his inauguration. That move had been tied to the news agency’s continued use of Gulf of Mexico after Trump renamed it the Gulf of America in 2025. The restriction later became part of a First Amendment court fight.
But the Times reported that White House aides also connected the punishment to AP’s refusal to grant rights to the image of the president after he was struck by gunfire. According to Fox News Politics, the newspaper cited two people briefed on a private 2025 lunch involving Trump and television anchors.
In response, an AP spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the organization remains focused on defending the right of the public and the press to speak freely without government retaliation or control. A source also said, according to that outlet, that the White House had not communicated that reasoning to AP. The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
On July 13, 2024, Trump was rushed offstage by Secret Service agents after gunfire grazed the upper part of his right ear during a rally in Butler. Authorities identified the shooter as Thomas Matthew Crooks, who fired from the roof of a nearby building. Firefighter Corey Comperatore was killed while shielding his family, and two other men were wounded. A Secret Service sniper killed Crooks.
The photograph at the center of the dispute was taken by AP photographer Evan Vucci. It showed Trump with his fist raised and blood visible on his face, and it quickly spread worldwide, appearing on newspaper front pages across the globe.
Sources
About this piece. Written by El Notero with AI assistance, from reporting published by the outlet cited above. El Notero did no original reporting on this story.
