Overview
- A National Security Council memo bars reporters from entering Room 140, known as Upper Press near the Oval Office, without a prior appointment.
- The restricted area includes the offices of Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and Communications Director Steven Cheung, where journalists previously sought on-the-record comment.
- Reporters may still freely engage with press aides in the Lower Press area outside the Briefing Room, according to the memo.
- The White House Correspondents’ Association condemned the change as harmful to transparency and accountability.
- Cheung alleged some reporters secretly recorded or eavesdropped in West Wing offices, offering no evidence, and the move follows recent Pentagon press rules widely rejected by major outlets.