A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice said on Saturday that the department is investigating whether the White House press corps' decision to stop covering President Donald Trump's activities last month violates antitrust laws.

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice, Emily Covington, stated that collective boycotts among business competitors may violate U.S. law. She said, "The Antitrust Division is merely conducting an investigation to determine whether these news organizations have violated antitrust laws."

Before this statement was released, a group of White House television reporters composed of five broadcasting agencies stopped covering presidential activities last month after the Trump administration prohibited the issuance of CNN, MS NOW, and Polit tokens from entering the White House.

Late on Saturday night, reporters sent requests for comments to these five media outlets, namely ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX, and NBC.

The White House press corps is composed of news organizations that take turns covering presidential activities. The controversy surrounding this press corps has become a microcosm of a broader struggle: whether the president, or anyone else for that matter, can control the content of news reports – which is a form of freedom of speech and also a pillar of American democracy.

The developments last month marked an unusual escalation in Trump's actions to restrict journalists and media organizations that he deemed to have insufficient support for him.

CNN, MS NOW, and Polit tokens have filed lawsuits against this ban that has lasted for several days. After the judge provided temporary relief to these three news organizations, the ban was lifted; this relief measure will continue until Tuesday.

Reporting to the White House press corps via television has also been resumed.

José Zamora, the director of the Committee to Protect Journalists for the Americas region, criticized the government's decision to launch an investigation on Saturday.

Samarra stated on X: "The government should not use anti-monopoly investigations to intimidate news organizations that defend their rights to conduct interviews. The public's right to know depends on such interview permissions."