Judge won't enforce Oval Office access for the AP after new press pool rules

There's been movement in the Associated Press's case against the Trump administration over the AP's access to the Oval Office

The judge in the case, Trevor McFadden, previously directed the White House to restore AP access to certain White House spaces

But now McFadden says he's not going to further enforce that ruling after the White House changed its press rules earlier this week

Let's catch you up on where things stand. McFadden ruled the White House needed to restore the AP's access

ruling it can't discriminate against the outlet based on its viewpoints. That order was to be enforced Monday this week

Then the White House released new guidelines on Tuesday, changing its previous policy, allowing Wire Services, the AP, Reuters and Bloomberg

to share a rotating spot amongst each other. Now, the three news organizations will be included in the larger pool of print media that rotate schedules to cover certain Trump events, like executive order signings or space to travel with Trump on Air Force One

The new guidelines also say the president retains absolute discretion over Oval Office access

On Friday, McFadden announced he will not further enforce his previous order, saying he's inclined to agree with the White House that the new policy doesn't discriminate against the AP if it's not allowed access based on the larger rotation schedule

But he also left the door open for further challenges from the AP suggesting it will be quote pretty telling over time just how many times the AP is selected among the poll if the administration is discriminating against the AP

in its selection process. McFadden said, we are not at the point where we can make much of a

determination one way or another. I don't intend to micromanage the White House. The proof is in

the pudding. While McFadden came out Friday to say he won't further be enforcing his initial ruling

given the new press guidelines from the White House, that ruling is still making its way through

the appeals process after the Trump administration appealed. A three-judge panel heard arguments for

that case on Thursday and appeared to be split over whether the White House should legally have

to allow AP access to certain press rooms and events. Two judges were appointed by former

President Obama and one appointed by Trump during his first term. It's unclear when the appeals court

will roll over whether McFadden's original ruling was right or went too far. As for the AP's recent

access, they did not have a presence in the press pool Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. An AP photographer

was allowed back into the photo pool Thursday and Friday. A print reporter hasn't been selected

since back in February, but an AP lawyer says they will have one in the press poll on Saturday

when Trump is expected to be golfing