White House Press Secretary Loses It on Reporter Over Gulf of Mexico Snub

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt got heated during a press conference when she addressed the media's coverage of President Donald Trump's decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America."

Julie Pace, the executive editor of the Associated Press, previously revealed they were banned from the gatherings as a result of the news outlet's refusal to adopt the new terminology.

Despite Trump's executive order, which he signed on Super Bowl Sunday, the Associated Press continued to use the original name, Gulf of Mexico.

During a recent press briefing, CNN's Kaitlan Collins questioned the reasoning behind the ban, asking, "Which White House official made the decision to bar the AP reporter from the Oval Office and the diplomatic reception room last night?"

Leavitt answered, "First of all, let me just set the record straight. It is a privilege to cover this White House. It is a privilege to be the White House press secretary. And nobody has the right to go into the Oval Office and ask a president of the United States questions, that is an invitation that is given. And there are hundreds of outlets on this campus, many of you in this room who don’t have the privilege of being part of that pool every single day and getting to ask the president questions."

"We reserve the right to decide who gets to go into the Oval Office, and you all have credentials to be here, including the Associated Press who is in this briefing room today," the Trump press secretary continued.

Collins raised concerns about the potential precedent set by the administration for retaliating against media outlets that do not comply with their preferred language.

"Isn’t it retaliatory in nature?" she asked. "How does that align with the First Amendment commitment that you were just talking about?"

Leavitt argued it’s "important" for outlets to refer to the Gulf of America by its new name and declared the administration would hold "lies accountable" when they recognize them being pushed in the media.

"I was upfront on day one if we feel that there are lies being pushed by outlets in this room, we are going to hold those lies accountable, and it is a fact that the body of water off the coast of Louisiana is called the Gulf of America, and I am not sure why news outlets don’t want to call it that, but that is what it is," the press secretary explained.

"The secretary of interior has made that the official designation, and geographical identification name server, and Apple has recognized that, Google has recognized that, pretty much every outlet in this room has recognized that body of water as the Gulf of America, and it’s very important to the said administration that we get that right, not just for people here at home but also for the rest of the world," Leavitt stated.