The Trump administration’s latest attempts to curtail press leaks disallows White House reporters from accessing the inner offices of senior communication officials in the West Wing in order to protect national security secrets.
A memo released to the reporters Friday evening addressed from the National Security Council (NSC) to President Donald Trump’s White House Communications Director Steven Cheung and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt states reporters should no longer freely walk into their offices, known as “Upper Press,” located in Room 140, just feet away from the Oval Office.
The White House’s communications staff has also begun directing communications for the National Security Council due to a recent “structural change,” the memo states. The policy cordoning off “Upper Press” thereby ensures the security of sensitive material, the memo argues.
Reporters can continue to speak with more junior press aides outside the White House Briefing Room, the memo adds.
Cheung claimed in a Friday post on X that reporters had been caught eavesdropping on meetings with senior members of the Trump administration in Upper Press. Some reporters also supposedly made surreptitious recordings of those engagements and photographed sensitive documents.
“Cabinet Secretaries routinely come into our office for private meetings, only to be ambushed by reporters waiting outside our doors,” he said.
Some reporters have been caught secretly recording video and audio of our offices, along with pictures of sensitive info, without permission
Some reporters have wandered into restricted areas (our offices are feet away from the Oval Office)
Some reporters have been caught… https://t.co/tosUqrcKGt
— Steven Cheung (@StevenCheung47) October 31, 2025
We’ve caught reporters with their ear to @PressSec’s door while she was having sensitive conversations with Cabinet members.
Should the White House restrict reporter access to senior communication offices for security reasons?We’ve had to chase reporters down who started strolling into restricted areas towards the Oval.
Total absence of boundaries. https://t.co/LgWTWI9Wiz
— Anna Kelly (@AnnaKelly47) November 1, 2025
The White House Correspondents’ Association said in a statement Friday it “unequivocally opposes” the move and that the press secretary’s office has long been open for newsgathering.
“The new restrictions hinder the press corps’ ability to question officials, ensure transparency, and hold the government accountable, to the detriment of the American public,” said WHCA President and senior CBS News White House correspondent Weijia Jiang in a statement.
Statement on New Restriction on Journalists at White House. pic.twitter.com/rE7F4Ou1hh
— WHCA (@whca) October 31, 2025
Former President Bill Clinton Communications Director George Stephanopoulos blocked reporters’ access to Upper Press in 1993, overturning a 20-year precedent, according to press clips, inviting a public squabble with the press corps. Clinton soon after overturned the policy in an effort to improve his media coverage.
When Mark Gearan replaced Stephanopoulos as Clinton’s communications director, Stephanopoulos wrote to his successor in a note, “Mark, I can only give you one piece of advice: Open the hallway!” according to a 1993 USA Today report.
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