President Donald Trump has once again flipped the script on the self-important Washington press corps, opening the doors of the White House to a broader range of journalists and finally dismantling the gatekeeping power of the leftist media elite. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Tuesday that more reporters—not just the carefully curated group of Biden-era stenographers—will have access to President Trump. Predictably, the mainstream media erupted in outrage, proving once again that their real goal isn’t transparency, but total control over the narrative.
A group of DC-based journalists, the White House Correspondents' Association, has long dictated which journalists get to ask questions of the President of the United States.
Not anymore.
Today, I was proud to announce that we are giving the power back to the people.
Moving… pic.twitter.com/PkNui6Qleu
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) February 25, 2025
For decades, the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) dictated which reporters got to ask the president questions, ensuring that only those who played by the establishment’s rules were given a seat at the table. Not anymore. Trump’s press team is reclaiming that authority, ensuring that independent journalists who have long been locked out—like The Daily Signal’s Elizabeth Mitchell—finally get a shot at holding power to account. Unlike the Biden administration, which actively hid its failing president from the press, Trump is giving more access to more reporters than ever before. And yet, the legacy media calls this a “threat to press freedom.”
Senator Dick Durbin and his media lapdogs had no problem when Biden’s press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, revoked credentials for 442 journalists in 2023—more than 30% of the press corps. The WHCA stood silent as conservative and independent journalists were pushed out. Now, when Trump simply levels the playing field, they compare him to Putin. New Yorker staff writer Susan Glasser actually likened the decision to Kremlin propaganda, while her husband, New York Times White House correspondent Peter Baker, claimed it reminded him of the “early days of Putin’s reign.” The irony? Right after Baker’s hyperventilating post, Trump spent an hour taking open questions from the press—something Biden couldn’t manage in four years.
The new press pool shake-up still allows traditional outlets like ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, and NBC to participate, but it also opens the door for new voices. The Associated Press, however, has been booted from intimate spaces like Air Force One and the Oval Office for refusing to acknowledge the renamed Gulf of America in its reporting. The leftist media empire is losing its stranglehold on White House access, and they’re absolutely terrified.
Leavitt delivered the knockout punch to Baker and his media buddies: “Gone are the days where left-wing stenographers posing as journalists, such as yourself, dictate who gets to ask what.” Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich was even more direct, calling out these so-called journalists for prioritizing their next MSNBC booking over real reporting. Meanwhile, Communications Director Steven Cheung summed it up best: “Glasser is stuck in her old, tired ways of doing things, so this new way of doing things is a threat to her dying career.”
Susan Glassner is stuck in her old, tired ways of doing things so this new way of doing things is a threat to her dying career and middling existence.
Either that, or she suffers from a nasty, debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome. https://t.co/jAJWK9nKWc
— Steven Cheung (@StevenCheung47) February 25, 2025
The reality is simple: the media’s job is to report the news, not control it. Under Trump, access is increasing, not decreasing. The only ones upset are the gatekeepers who have enjoyed unchecked power for far too long. The American people deserve a press corps that asks real questions, not a bunch of career activists posing as journalists. The White House is returning power to the people—just as it should be.
