The White House has restricted the Wall Street Journal from travelling with US President Donald Trump during his upcoming trip to Scotland over its recent report highlighting Trump’s old connection with the serial sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. This comes after Trump sued the WSJ and its owner, Rupert Murdoch, on Friday for at least $10 billion over the allegation in the article, which Trump denies.
This is also the second instance where the Trump administration has banned a media outlet from reporting on White House affairs; earlier, the administration had banned The Associated Press from multiple key events since February White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, "As the appeals court confirmed, The Wall Street Journal or any other news outlet is not guaranteed special access to cover President Trump in the Oval Office, aboard Air Force One, and in his private workspaces.”
She said, “Due to The Wall Street Journal's fake and defamatory conduct, they will not be one of the thirteen outlets on board (Air Force One). Trump is likely to meet the UK Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, in Scotland this week.
Also Read: Trump sues Murdoch, WSJ for $10bn over Epstein letter expose
Earlier this month, when the allegations regarding the Jeffrey Epstein cover-up broke, the US Attorney General Pam Bondi, who first said that she had the file on her table, backtracked from the claim and said there was no such “client list”. Speculation around the US president, Donald Trump, being one of the noted personalities on the sex offenders list was made public by the Tesla boss, Elon Musk.
In its story on Thursday, the WSJ reported that Trump had written a suggestive birthday letter to Epstein in 2003, illustrated with a naked woman and alluding to a shared "secret."
Meanwhile, coming back to the WSJ saga, the White House Correspondents Association has urged President Trump to "restore" the Journal to the pool. "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," said WHCA President Weijia Jiang.
Also Read: Trump’s ‘sexual predator’ clip adds to Epstein backlash
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