The Trump administration has barred The Wall Street Journal from accompanying President Donald Trump on an upcoming overseas trip to Scotland amid a spat over the newspaper’s coverage of his links to the notorious financier Jeffrey Epstein.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday that the Journal would not be among 13 media outlets traveling with Trump due to its “fake and defamatory conduct”. The move comes after the Journal reported that Trump sent Epstein a “bawdy” letter in 2003 to mark the occasion of his 50th birthday.
The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) has condemned the Trump administration’s move as “deeply troubling”. “Government retaliation against news outlets based on the content of their reporting should concern all who value free speech and an independent media,” WHCA president Weijia Jiang said. “We strongly urge the White House to restore the Wall Street Journal to its previous position in the pool and aboard Air Force One for the President’s upcoming trip to Scotland.”
Trump has filed a defamation lawsuit against the newspaper and its owners seeking $20 billion in damages. The lawsuit is the latest development in a growing controversy over Trump’s links to Epstein, who died in jail in 2009 while facing sex trafficking charges. Trump has vigorously denied the report, saying that he had not spoken to Epstein in 15 years after a “falling out” between the pair.
The Trump administration has taken similar action to limit the access of media outlets over their coverage before. In February, the White House began excluding the Associated Press from news events over its decision to keep using the “Gulf of Mexico” in some cases, despite Trump issuing an executive order to rename the waterway the “Gulf of America”. The move has raised concerns about the administration’s commitment to press freedom and the role of the media in holding those in power accountable.
The controversy over Trump’s links to Epstein has sparked outrage among segments of his “Make America Great Again” base, which had expected his administration to confirm their belief in a conspiracy implicating powerful elites in sex crimes against children. Many MAGA supporters have expressed outrage over the Trump administration’s handling of the so-called “Epstein files” since the release of a law enforcement memo that concluded the well-connected financier died by suicide and there was no credible evidence of him blackmailing powerful figures.
The Trump administration’s decision to bar the Wall Street Journal from the trip has been widely criticized, with many viewing it as a clear attempt to suppress press freedom and limit scrutiny of the administration’s actions. As the WHCA noted, government retaliation against news outlets based on their reporting is a deeply troubling development that should concern all who value free speech and an independent media.