WASHINGTON >> A lawyer for The Associated Press asked a federal judge Thursday to reinstate the agency’s access to the White House press pool and other official events, saying the Trump administration’s ban is a fundamental attack on freedom of speech and should be overturned.

The government insisted there was no evidence that AP had been harmed irreparably.

“AP has now spent 44 days in the penalty box,” said Charles Tobin, speaking on behalf of the news agency. The hearing concluded Thursday afternoon with no immediate decision.

The AP and the new administration are at odds over the White House’s removal of AP reporters and photographers from the small group of journalists who follow the president in the pool and other events. Last month, AP sued White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and two other administration officials, demanding reinstatement.

The White House retaliated against the news outlet last month for not following President Trump’s executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico.

A lawyer for the government, Brian Hudak, told U.S. District Court Judge Trevor N. McFadden that AP hadn’t shown irreparable harm. “There is no showing of exclusion,” he said, adding that AP can still access events in the East Room and document who arrives at the White House and leaves it.

In actuality, AP has been able to access East Room events only occasionally, at the discretion of the White House.

Journalists testify

In testimony, Evan Vucci, an AP photographer, testified that the agency was “basically dead in the water on major news stories.”

The AP’s chief White House correspondent, Zeke Miller, detailed how AP was able to get news to the world quickly while events were happening. But the ban has cut into that ability.

Miller said AP wasn’t able to get news out about a delay in instituting tariffs against Canada and Mexico until nearly 40 minutes after a competitor.

“We don’t see the president nearly as much as we did before this ban took effect,” Miller said.

Judge’s view

In last month’s hearing, McFadden refused the AP’s request for an injunction to stop the White House from barring reporters and photographers from events in the Oval Office and Air Force One. He urged the Trump administration to reconsider its ban before Thursday’s hearing.

“It seems pretty clearly viewpoint discrimination,” McFadden told the government’s attorney at the time.

The news outlet said it would still refer to the Gulf of Mexico in its style guidance to clients around the world, while also noting that Trump has ordered it renamed the Gulf of America.

Editor’s op-ed

“For anyone who thinks the Associated Press’s lawsuit against President Trump’s White House is about the name of a body of water, think bigger,” Julie Pace, the AP’s executive editor, wrote in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.

“It’s really about whether the government can control what you say.”

The White House said it has the right to decide who gets to question the president, and has taken steps to take over a duty that has been handled by journalists for decades.