The White House Correspondents’ Association is fed up with President Donald Trump. On Monday, the group slammed reports that his administration is planning to take control of the briefing room’s seating chart—a blatant attempt to sideline journalists and stack the room with MAGA loyalists.
The WHCA, which has long handled seating arrangements—prioritizing major newspapers, TV networks, and wire services—alerted members via email that the White House is trying to wrestle that power away.
“If the White House pushes forward, it will become even more clear that the administration is seeking to cynically seize control of the system through which the independent press organizes itself, so that it is easier to exact punishment on outlets over their coverage,” the WHCA board wrote in a statement obtained by Politico.
The board went on to urge the administration to back down.
“The White House should abandon this wrong-headed effort and show the American people they’re not afraid to explain their policies and field questions from an independent media free from government control,” it said.
A weekend report from Axios suggested that the White House may soon rearrange the press briefing room’s seating chart to pack the front rows with far-right outlets that rarely challenge Trump.
And this isn’t the first time the Trump administration has tried to rewrite the rules.
In January, press secretary Karoline Leavitt rolled out a plan to bring in “new media voices,” making room for TikTok influencers, podcasters, and MAGA-friendly news personalities to get closer to the president.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt
Then, in February, the White House seized control of another key WHCA function: deciding which journalists get to be in the press pool covering Trump.
An anonymous White House official told Axios that the shake-up isn’t just about boosting Trump’s media fan club.
“It’s truly an honest look at consumption [of the outlets’ coverage]. Influencers are important, but it’s tough because they aren’t [equipped to provide] consistent coverage. So the ability to cover the White House is part of the metrics,” they said.
Right. And yet, somehow, the biggest media outlets—the ones that actually somewhat hold Trump accountable—are the ones that will likely get pushed to the back of the room.
The drama doesn’t stop there. Over the weekend, the WHCA abruptly canceled comedian Amber Ruffin’s scheduled appearance at its annual correspondents’ dinner after backlash from the Trump administration.
Meanwhile, as traditional news organizations struggle to cover Trump’s latest media crackdown, the president is ramping up his war on the press.
HuffPost was briefly booted from the press pool, major wire services have had their access restricted, and The Associated Press is suing the White House for banning its journalists for refusing to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.”
In response, the WHCA encouraged its members to wear “First Amendment” pins at the White House and during TV appearances.
But Trump’s message is already loud and clear: If you don’t bend the knee, you might not get a seat at the table.
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