A Wall Street Journal reporter was kicked out of Donald Trump’s press pool for his upcoming weekend trip to Scotland. The removal marked increased retaliation after the newspaper published an article alleging the US president sent Jeffrey Epstein a 50th birthday letter that included a drawing of a naked woman. The US president promptly sued the paper for $10bn.
“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,” said the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, in a statement. “Thirteen diverse outlets will participate in the press pool to cover the President’s trip to Scotland. Due to the Wall Street Journal’s fake and defamatory conduct, they will not be one of the thirteen outlets on board. Every news organization in the entire world wishes to cover President Trump, and the White House has taken significant steps to include as many voices as possible.”
Tarini Parti, the reporter selected for removal, was not one of the writers of the Epstein piece. Trump is headed to Scotland to work on the UK-US trade deal, and to visit his golf courses in Scotland. The Guardian US also confirmed the reporter’s removal.
Prior to the second Trump administration, decisions regarding the White House press pool were in the hands of the White House Correspondents’ Association. Seats in the press pool are highly coveted, and crucial for media that wish to stay on the cutting edge of politics coverage.
The administration initially banned the Associated Press from the Oval Office, Air Force One and other exclusive access after the outlet declined to use Trump’s new moniker for the Gulf of Mexico. The decision for the administration to control the press pool came shortly after.
The White House Correspondents Association’s president, Weijia Jiang, spoke strongly against the decision to remove Parti from the Scotland trip’s press pool. She said the administration had yet to clarify whether the ban was temporary, or if it was permanently barring Wall Street Journal reporters from the press pool.
“This attempt by the White House to punish a media outlet whose coverage it does not like is deeply troubling, and it defies the First Amendment. Government retaliation against news outlets based on the content of their reporting should concern all who value free speech and an independent media,” Jiang wrote in a statement to The Guardian US.
Trump’s fury over the Epstein article comes amid increasing scrutiny over his relationship with the now deceased Epstein. One of Epstein’s first public accusers said she urged the FBI to investigate Trump’s relationship with Epstein decades ago. Trump is also named as a friend of Epstein in early 2000’s write-ups from Vanity Fair and New York Magazine.
In a rare crack in his armor, Trump appears to have lost control over the Epstein narrative to some Maga faithful, with the unreleased files opening huge rifts among some of Trump’s most die-hard supporters.
The Wall Street Journal has stood by the accuracy of its reporting, which the Guardian has not been able to verify.
“We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit,” a Dow Jones spokesperson wrote in a statement.
