Due to a row over the newspaper’s coverage of his connections to the infamous financier Jeffrey Epstein, US President Donald Trump’s administration has ordered The Wall Street Journal to not accompany him on an upcoming overseas trip.
Due to its “fake and defamatory conduct,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced on Monday that the Journal would not be among the 13 media outlets visiting Trump in Scotland this weekend.
According to a statement from Leavitt, “every news outlet in the world wishes to cover President Trump, and the White House has taken significant steps to include as many voices as possible.”
The decision comes in response to the Journal’s report last week that Trump sent Epstein, who was facing sex trafficking charges, a “bawdy” letter in 2003 to mark his 50th birthday.
Trump, who has vigorously denied the report, filed a defamation lawsuit against the newspaper and its owners, asking for $ 20 billion in damages.
The Trump administration’s action was described as “deeply troubling” by the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) in a statement.
All who value free speech and an independent media should be concerned about government retaliation against news outlets based on the content of their reporting, according to WCHA president Weijia Jiang.
For the President’s upcoming trip to Scotland, we urge the White House to restore the Wall Street Journal to its former position aboard Air Force One and in the pool. Working with the administration to achieve a resolution is possible with the WCHA.
Similar restrictions have been put in place by the Trump administration to restrict media outlets’ access to their previous coverage.
Despite Trump’s executive order to rename the waterway the “Gulf of America,” the White House began excluding the Associated Press from news gatherings in February over its decision to continue using the “Gulf of Mexico” in some cases.
Trump has been subjected to more revelations about the government’s inquiries into Epstein, particularly from members of his “Make America Great Again” base, who had anticipated that his administration would confirm their belief in a conspiracy that pits powerful elites against children.
Since the release of a law enforcement memo claiming the well-known financier died by suicide and there was no conclusive proof that he had blackmailed powerful figures, many MAGA supporters have expressed outrage over the Trump administration’s handling of the so-called “Epstein files.”
Source: Aljazeera
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