Photo: Alamy
President Donald Trump on Monday barred a Wall Street Journal reporter from joining his upcoming trip to Scotland aboard Air Force One over a recent report linking him to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after recently filing a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the company.
The lawsuit, filed Friday, targets both the Journal and Rupert Murdoch over an article that referenced a sexually suggestive letter bearing Trump’s name. The letter appeared in a 2003 birthday album created for Epstein. Trump has denied any connection to the note or the album and is seeking substantial damages.
In a further move on Monday, the White House announced that Journal reporter Tarini Parti, who had been scheduled to travel with the president to his golf resorts in Turnberry and Aberdeen, Scotland, would be removed from the press pool for the trip.
“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,” said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
“Due to the Wall Street Journal’s fake and defamatory conduct, they will not be one of the thirteen outlets on board. 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,” she added.
The White House Correspondents’ Association condemned the decision. WHCA President Weijia Jiang of CBS News called the move “deeply troubling,” warning it posed a threat to press freedoms.
“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,” Jiang said in a statement. “Government retaliation against news outlets based on the content of their reporting should concern all who value free speech and an independent media. 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.”
The Journal lawsuit adds to a growing list of Trump’s legal challenges against media companies. Past defamation actions include suits against CBS News over its editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with then-opponent Kamala Harris, ABC News over a false on-air statement made by George Stephanopoulos and Meta for removing Trump’s accounts after the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.