Trump White House Boots Wall Street Journal From Press Pool Amid $10 Billion Lawsuit

The Trump administration removed The Wall Street Journal on Monday from the press pool covering the president’s upcoming trip to Scotland — a move that comes just days after Trump sued the outlet for $10 billion for reporting he had sent Jeffrey Epstein a “bawdy” birthday note in 2003.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Politico on Monday the WSJ would not be part of the press pool reporting on President Trump’s Scotland trip, which is scheduled for July 25-29.

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Leavitt, in her statement, referred to a court ruling last month that said President Trump could ban the Associated Press, another outlet he has been grappling with, from certain spaces like the Oval Office.

“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. “Due to the Wall Street Journal’s fake and defamatory conduct, they will not be one of the thirteen outlets on board.”

She added: “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.”

The Trump administration’s decision comes after the president sued Dow Jones, the WSJ’s publisher, and Rupert Murdoch for libel on July 18, after the paper published its story about his letter to Epstein a day earlier.

The Wall Street Journal reported Trump sent Epstein a birthday note that contained “several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn.” The note included an imaginary conversation between Trump and Epstein that was written in the third person.

One section of the note, according to the WSJ, included the following lines:

Donald: We have certain things in common, Jeffrey. 

Jeffrey: Yes, we do, come to think of it. 

Donald: Enigmas never age, have you noticed that?

Trump’s note, according to the WSJ, finished by saying “may every day be another wonderful secret.”

Trump, less than an hour after the story was published, said the report was bogus on social media and vowed to sue Murdoch and the WSJ. He also denied he wrote the birthday note in the WSJ story, telling the outlet: “I never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women.” He added, “It’s not my language. It’s not my words.”

Politico reported WSJ reporter Tarini Parti was scheduled to be the print pooler for the last two days of Trump’s Scotland trip, before Leavitt squashed that plan.

The White House has been controlling the pool after taking that power away from the White House Correspondents’ Association, following the president’s battle with the AP over its use of the term “Gulf of Mexico.”

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