AP's refusal to give Trump rights to Butler photo helped fuel Oval Office ban, report claims

President Donald Trump 's administration targeted the Associated Press (AP) over rights to the iconic photo of the president in Butler, Pennsylvania, taken after an assassination attempt, according to a New York Times report.

The AP has repeatedly sparred with the Trump White House after the president was elected in 2024.

The outlet was banned from the Oval Office and Air Force One shortly after Trump was inaugurated because the AP continued to use "Gulf of Mexico" after the president renamed it the Gulf of America in 2025.

The ban has led to a First Amendment battle in court.

However, according to the Times, White House aides also connected the ban to the AP's refusal to give them rights to the infamous photo of the president after he was shot.

The Times cited two people briefed on a private lunch with Trump and network anchors in 2025.

INSIDE AP’S FIRST AMENDMENT BATTLE WITH TRUMP’S WHITE HOUSE AS ‘GULF OF AMERICA’ DISPUTE HEADS BACK TO COURT "We’re focused on continuing to stand for the right of the public and the press to speak freely without government retaliation or control," a spokesman for the AP told Fox News Digital in a statement in response to the claim.

A source added the White House has not communicated this reasoning to the AP.

The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

Trump was rushed offstage by Secret Service agents after gunfire grazed his upper right ear during his July 13, 2024, rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The attack came months before Trump’s re-election and preceded a series of later alleged attempts and reported threats against his life .

The president was mid-sentence, pointing to a chart on illegal immigration under the Biden administration, when gunshots pierced the air at his Butler rally.

Authorities identified the gunman as Thomas Matthew Crooks, who fired from the roof of a nearby building.

TWO MEN SHOT AT TRUMP'S BUTLER RALLY SUE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OVER SECRET SERVICE 'PREVENTABLE FAILURES' Secret Service agents tackled Trump to the ground.