First Thing: Defense department bars reporters from Pentagon press room

Spokesperson claims Trump administration has ‘the most transparent war department in history’ despite ban on journalists using Pentagon facility. Also, more than 1,000 Marilyn Monroes descend on Palm Springs

Good morning.

In another apparent affront to press freedom from the Trump administration, journalists may no longer enter the Pentagon’s press office, which has been designated as a classified space.

How have the media reacted? After the defense department announced sweeping restrictions in October, many longtime reporters refused to agree and began turning over their press passes. The department then announced a “next generation of the Pentagon press corps” featuring 60 journalists from far-right outlets. The New York Times sued the Pentagon over those policies, which designated journalists as “security risks”, and a federal judge found in the Times’s favor in March.

What is making the fund controversial? The terms of the fund do not require the disclosure of how much is paid to whom. Chuck Schumer, the US Senate minority leader, said: “Trump’s nearly $2bn Maga slush fund is his most brazen act of self-dealing yet and one of the most corrupt schemes ever launched by a president.”