DONALD TRUMP met with Keir Starmer today for a bilateral meeting discussing all sorts of topics including Gaza and the UK/US trade deal.
We applied for accreditation but access was given to just one Scottish print newspaper, which was picked out of a hat. We missed out.
If The National had been given access and an opportunity to question the US president, we would have gone much harder on Gaza.
For example, we would have asked why he has repeatedly supported the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
The US president sparked international condemnation after calling for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza – saying he believes in a “clean out” of the Palestinian region in January this year.
He has since repeated those calls for the population of Gaza to be housed elsewhere, either temporarily or long-term, in comments that experts have said amounts to support for a war crime.
We would also ask why his government is providing billions to Israel, a country that is actively committing genocide and starving a civilian population.
Perhaps we’d ask whether he fears he will end up in The Hague.
Certainly another probing question on his ties to disgraced paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein – that’s a story he hopes everyone forgets.
We'd also perhaps call out the apparent hypocrisy of his administration bringing up the idea of deporting US citizens for crimes when he, himself, is a convicted felon.
Or ask about calls for the Scottish Government to launch an investigation into his finances.
The list could go on. In the meantime, we will scrutinise from afar.
