The Trump White House is trying to short-circuit the Associated Press' lawsuit against the administration by altering the decades-old protocols over which news outlets band together to cover the president when space is limited.

"The press and all people in the United States have the right to choose their own words and not be retaliated against by the government," the AP said in its lawsuit.

A federal U.S. district judge allowed the Trump White House to keep its ban on the Associated Press. The AP sued the Trump administration after the White House restricted the wire service from covering President Donald Trump at his press conferences in the Oval Office and aboard Air Force One,