WASHINGTON – The White House is facing backlash from press groups after launching the Wall Street Journal from a cohort of media outlets set up to cover President Donald Trump’s trip to Scotland.
“This attempt to punish media outlets where the White House doesn’t like coverage is deeply troubling and it violates the initial amendment,” said Waizia Jean, president of the White House Correspondents Association, in a statement.
White House spokesman Caroline Leavitt said Monday that the Wall Street Journal is not part of a group of media outlets that are scheduled to travel with Trump. The move comes after Trump reported in 2003 that he sent Jeffrey Epstein to a birthday card with a picture of a naked woman, calling him “a companion” and signing off saying that “it could be a great everyday secret.”
“Due to the defamation and defamation of the Wall Street Journal, they wouldn’t be one of the 13 outlets on the ship,” Leavitt said in a statement, but she did not specifically mention the Journal’s Epstein story.
Shortly after the story was released, Trump filed a lawsuit seeking $10 billion in damages. The lawsuit was named Wall Street Journal’s parent company and publisher, two reporters and two media executives.
Dow Jones, the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, declined to comment that the outlet was being kicked out of the pool. Following Trump’s lawsuit, a Dow Jones spokesman defended the Wall Street Journal report, saying, “We will be fully confident in the strictness and accuracy of the report and will be a fierce defense of the lawsuit.”
Jiang urged the White House to reverse the decision, noting that the White House Correspondents Association is ready to work with the administration in the resolution.
“The government’s retaliation against news outlets based on the content of the report should have something to do with everyone who values freedom of speech and independent media,” she said.
A New York Times spokesman also denounced the White House move, calling it an “attack on the core constitutional principles that underpin free speech and the free press.”
“This is a simple retaliation by the president against news organizations for reporting he disliked,” the spokesman said. “These actions are robbing Americans of information about how governments are run.”
Prespool has played a long-standing role in the White House media coverage. Space at events with the President – limited edition, such as an oval office or Air Force 1, media outlets will take over in smaller press pools to provide information for the larger media cohort. Pool journalists film footage, ask questions and provide details about the interior of the room for shared use.
The Wall Street Journal was just part of the White House pool as it did last week before Epstein’s story broke. It is unclear whether the White House plans to continue banning outlets from other pooled coverage events other than trips to Scotland.
During previous administration, the White House Correspondents Association coordinated which outlets would take on the role of the pool at what time. Leavitt said in February that the White House would take over pool management and end the precedent.
The White House also attempted to ban Associated Press from media events, marking a sharp departure from previous administrations. Trump has repeatedly criticized the Associated Press for referring to what the White House calls the “Gulf of America” as the “Gulf of Mexico.”
The appeals court held in June that Trump was allowed to block the Associated Press from several media events as the lawsuit continued, Leavitt pointed out in her statement Monday.
“As the Court of Appeals confirmed, the Wall Street Journal or other news outlets do not guarantee special access to cover President Trump, the Air Force 1 and his private workspace,” she said.
The Epstein incident involved the administration in debate, sparking rare criticism from Trump’s base. Over the past few weeks, several people, including Trump’s allies, have called on the White House to release more files related to Epstein.
Attorney General Pam Bondy announced Tuesday that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche was communicating with Githrane Maxwell’s attorney about whether he was willing to speak to Department of Justice prosecutors. Maxwell has been sentenced to 20 years in prison and has been charged with grooming and recruiting a girl for Epstein’s sexual abuse.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump’s letter to Epstein was from 2003, and that Epstein was before it was first investigated in 2005. Trump told New York Magazine in 2002 that Epstein was a “great man.” Trump later distanced himself from Epstein and said that after the billionaire’s 2019 arrest, the two fell out “old old days.”
