Peter Baker, a leading reporter at The New York Times, blasted President Trump’s White House over its decision to take control of the press pool covering the president and ban the Associated Press from key White House spaces.
“Having served as a Moscow correspondent in the early days of Putin’s reign, this reminds me of how the Kremlin took over its own press pool and made sure that only compliant journalists were given access,” Baker wrote on the social platform X on Tuesday afternoon. “The message is clear. Given that the White House has already kicked one news organization out of the pool because of coverage it does not like, it is making certain everyone else knows that the rest of us can be barred too if the president does not like our questions or stories.”
Baker was reacting to an announcement from the White House on Tuesday that the West Wing press shop would be seizing control of the pool, a small group of reporters who travel with and report on the president’s daily activities.
Previously, the press pool had been determined by the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) and typically was made up of reporters from major legacy media companies and wire services.
The WHCA did not immediately respond to a request for comment after Leavitt’s remarks.
One of the wire services, The Associated Press, was recently banned from key White House spaces over its refusal to change its style on “Gulf of America,” a move the outlet has sued the Trump administration over.
Leavitt, during her briefing with reporters on Tuesday, said “it’s beyond time the White House press pool reflects the media habits of the American people in 2025,” and said the west wing would work to open the pool up to new and alternative media outlets, who she called “deserving” of the opportunity.
Baker, one of the Times’ top reporters in Washington, D.C., admonished the Trump administration for a move he said was unprecedented.
“Every president of both parties going back generations subscribed to the principle that a president doesn’t pick the press corps that is allowed in the room to ask him questions,” he wrote. “Trump has just declared that he will.”
