Vice President J.D. Vance took a swipe at a reporter Monday who accused him of hypocrisy for blasting Europeans over free speech in the midst of the White House dispute with the Associated Press over the Gulf of Mexico/America.

Mr. Vance called Mehdi Hasan, editor-in-chief and CEO of Zeteo News, a “dummy” when Mr. Hasan said through implication that the White House’s decision to block AP reporters from attending official events over that usage style is not supporting free speech.

“I know you’re busy lecturing the Europeans on free speech, but have you seen this?” Mr. Hasan asked Mr. Vance on X quoting an Axios X post on that dispute.

“President Trump’s decision to limit AP reporters’ access is as much [a] fight over the Gulf of America as it is a protest of what White House advisers say is years of liberal word choices that AP’s influential stylebook has spread across mainstream media,” the Axios post read.

Mr. Vance responded to Mr. Hasan by writing, “Yes dummy. I think there’s a difference between not giving a reporter a seat in the WH press briefing room and jailing people for dissenting views. The latter is a threat to free speech, the former is not. Hope that helps!”

Mr. Vance delivered a scathing speech on Friday in Munich to European leaders and criticized their countries for trampling on the free-speech rights of their citizens.

SEE ALSO: Vance calls for U.S. and its allies to reject Germany’s ‘Orwellian’ speech laws

Since last week the White House has prevented AP reporters from entering certain press events, including an open-press news conference with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the swearing-in ceremony for Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

In a statement, AP Executive Editor Julie Pace called the ban “a deeply troubling escalation of the administration’s continued efforts to punish The Associated Press for its editorial decisions.”

• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.