The New York Times issued a blistering statement Tuesday condemning a decision by the White House to ban The Wall Street Journal from covering an overseas trip by President Trump this weekend, calling it “simple retribution.”
“The White House’s refusal to let one of the nation’s leading news organizations cover the highest office in the country is an attack on core constitutional principles underpinning free speech and free press,” the Times said. “Americans regardless of party deserve to know and understand the actions of the president and reporters play a vital role in advancing the public interest.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that the Journal would be excluded from the travel pool heading to Scotland with Trump this weekend, citing the outlet’s reporting on a previously unknown letter it said Trump sent disgraced financier Jeffery Epstein.
“Thirteen diverse outlets will participate in the press pool to cover the President’s trip to Scotland,” Leavitt said. “Due to The Wall Street Journal’s fake and defamatory conduct, they will not be one of the 13 outlets on board.”
The ban comes just days after Trump sued the Journal and its owner Rupert Murdoch over the newspaper’s reporting on his history with Epstein, a convicted sex offender who died by suicide in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. The Journal reported Trump sent a “bawdy” letter to Epstein for his birthday in 2003.
Trump denies writing the letter and has said he appealed directly to Murdoch to stop publication of the Journal story. The president has also pushed back forcefully amid widespread calls from the GOP base for his administration to release more information about the case involving Epstein.
“This is simple retribution by a president against a news organization for doing reporting that he doesn’t like,” the Times said Tuesday. “Such actions deprive Americans of information about how their government operates.”
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