White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced changes to the White House press pool Feb. 25, 2025. (Evan Vucci/The Associated Press)
But President Donald Trump's White House isn’t the only one to roll out controversial policies regarding press access.
In 2023, more than 440 reporters lost press credentials after President Joe Biden’s White House modified its rules for eligibility for permanent passes.
Credentialed White House press members dropped from 1,417 members to 975 members after the White House unveiled new standards requiring an annual renewal of hard passes, Politico reported in 2023. Journalists without hard passes were still authorized to apply for day passes to the White House.
The Biden White House policy was launched in May 2023 and required reporters to prove employment with "an organization whose principal business is news dissemination" and show that they have "accessed the White House campus at least once during the prior six months for work, or have proof of employment within the last three months to cover the White House."
The Biden White House also made changes to the White House press corps, resulting in hundreds of reporters losing their passes. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Leavitt announced in January that the Trump White House would work to "restore the press passes of the 440 journalists whose passes were wrongly revoked by the previous administration."
On Tuesday, Leavitt said the White House’s decision aimed to "give the power back to the people" in an attempt to ensure that "all journalists, outlets and voices deserve a seat at this highly coveted table."
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In response, WHCA President Eugene Daniels said the WHCA did not receive any notice in advance of the White House’s decision and said the move "tears at the independence of a free press in the United States."
"It suggests the government will choose the journalists who cover the president," Daniels said. "In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps."
Fox News' Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.
Diana Stancy is a politics reporter with Fox News Digital covering the White House.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/flashback-biden-also-changed-white-house-press-pool-cutting-off-more-than-440-reporters-credentials