WASHINGTON — The White House is facing backlash from press groups after booting The Wall Street Journal from a cohort of media outlets set to cover President Donald Trump's upcoming trip to Scotland.
"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," Weijia Jiang, the president of the White House Correspondents' Association, said in a statement.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that The Wall Street Journal would not be part of the group of media outlets set to travel with Trump when he visits Scotland on July 25-29. The move comes after the Journal reported that Trump in 2003 sent Jeffrey Epstein a birthday card with a drawing of a naked woman, calling Epstein a “pal” and signing off, “may every day be another wonderful secret.”
"Due to the Wall Street Journal’s fake and defamatory conduct, they will not be one of the thirteen outlets on board," Leavitt said in a statement, though she did not explicitly refer to the Journal's Epstein article.
The day after the article was published, Trump filed a libel lawsuit seeking $10 billion in damages. The suit named The Wall Street Journal's parent company and publisher, two reporters and two executives, including the paper's owner, Rupert Murdoch.
Dow Jones, The Wall Street Journal’s publisher, declined to comment being kicked out of the pool. After Trump’s lawsuit, a Dow Jones spokesperson defended the Journal’s reporting, saying, “We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit.”
Jiang urged the White House to reverse its decision, noting that the White House Correspondents' Association was ready to work with the administration on a resolution.
"Government retaliation against news outlets based on the content of their reporting should concern all who value free speech and an independent media," she said.
A spokesperson for The New York Times also condemned the White House's move, calling it "an attack on core constitutional principles underpinning free speech and a free press."
"This is simple retribution by a president against a news organization for doing reporting that he doesn’t like," the spokesperson said. "Such actions deprive Americans of information about how their government operates."
Press pools have had a longstanding role in White House media coverage. Space at events with the president — such as in the Oval Office or on Air Force One — is limited, so media outlets take turns serving in the smaller press pool to provide information for the larger media cohort. Pool journalists shoot footage, ask questions and provide inside-the-room details for shared use.
The Wall Street Journal has regularly been part of the White House pool, and was recently as last week, before its Epstein story broke. It is unclear whether the White House plans to bar the outlet from other pooled coverage events outside of the president's trip to Scotland.
During prior administrations, the White House Correspondents' Association coordinated which outlets would take on pool roles at what time. Leavitt said in February that the White House would take over pool control, ending the precedent.
The White House also sought to ban The Associated Press from media events, marking a sharp departure from prior administrations. Trump repeatedly criticized The AP for referring to what the White House calls the "Gulf of America" as the Gulf of Mexico.
An appeals court ruled in June that Trump was allowed to block The AP from some media events as litigation continues, which Leavitt pointed to in her statement Monday.
"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," she said.
Reached for comment on the White House's decision to bar the Journal, AP spokesperson Patrick Maks said, "The press and the public have a fundamental right to speak freely without government retaliation."
"We look forward to the full appeals court’s ruling on this matter," Maks added.
The Epstein case has engulfed the administration in controversy and sparked rare criticism from Trump’s own base. In recent weeks, a growing number of people — including some close Trump allies — are calling on the White House to release more files related to Epstein, who died in jail while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Tuesday that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche would meet with Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for grooming and recruiting girls for Epstein's sexual abuse.
Epstein initially came under investigation in 2005, two years before the Journal said Trump sent the birthday greeting. Trump told New York magazine in 2002 that Epstein was a "terrific guy."
Trump later distanced himself from Epstein, saying after the billionaire's 2019 arrest that the two had a falling out "a long time ago."
