The White House on Monday said it will remove the Wall Street Journal from one of the coveted press seats on President Trump’s upcoming trip to Scotland, CNN reported, a decision that comes after the outlet published a highly questionable birthday “letter” the Journal said Trump sent to Jeffrey Epstein years ago.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the change was made “due to the Wall Street Journal’s fake and defamatory conduct,” a reference to the publication’s recent story, CNN said. The July 17 article detailed a collection of letters reportedly given to Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003, including one allegedly featuring Trump’s name and an outline of a naked woman. Trump filed a defamation lawsuit the following day, asserting that “no authentic letter or drawing exists.”
The White House is now leveraging one of its key tools—control over press access to Trump—to retaliate against The Journal, owned by Rupert Murdoch, following the controversial Epstein birthday letter story. A Journal reporter, who had no involvement in that article, was scheduled to serve in the press pool during the president’s visit to his golf courses in Scotland.
Until recently, press pool assignments were managed by the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA), an independent group representing the press corps. But in February, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stripped the WHCA of that authority and placed the administration in direct control of pool access, giving the White House a new form of leverage over media outlets.
The press pool is a small, rotating group of journalists who travel with the president and provide coverage for the entire press corps. Pool access is essential for covering limited-attendance events like Oval Office photo ops and press briefings aboard Air Force One, CNN noted.
Leavitt removed the WHCA from the process amid an ongoing dispute with the Associated Press over its refusal to fully adopt the administration’s directive to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.” While the AP continues to refer to the body of water as the Gulf of Mexico, while noting Trump’s order, the disagreement has triggered a months-long legal battle over press access.
“As the appeals court confirmed, the Wall Street Journal or any other news outlet are not guaranteed special access to cover President Trump in the Oval Office, aboard Air Force One, and in his private workspaces,” Leavitt said Monday.
“Thirteen diverse outlets will participate in the press pool to cover the President’s trip to Scotland,” she added, before saying the Journal would not be one of them.
