White House restricts Wall Street Journal access to Trump over Epstein story
The move comes after Mr Trump on Friday sued the WSJ and its media magnate owner Rupert Murdoch for at least $10 billion (€8.5 billion) over the allegation in the article, which Mr Trump denies.
The Trump administration's handling of the Epstein case has threatened to split the Republican's far-right Make America Great Again (MAGA) base, with some of his supporters calling for a full release of the so-called "Epstein Files".
The punishment of the Wall Street Journal marks at least the second time the Trump administration has moved to exclude a major news outlet from the press pool over its reporting, having barred Associated Press journalists from multiple key events since February.
"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 Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
"Due to The Wall Street Journal's fake and defamatory conduct, they will not be one of the 13 outlets on board (Air Force One)."
Mr Trump departs this weekend for Scotland, where he owns two golf resorts and will meet British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Earlier this month, the US Department of Justice, under Trump-appointed Attorney General Pam Bondi, said there was no evidence suggesting disgraced financier Epstein had kept a "client list" or was blackmailing powerful figures before his death in 2019.
In its story on Thursday, the WSJ reported that Mr Trump had written a suggestive birthday letter to Epstein, illustrated with a naked woman and alluding to a shared "secret".
Epstein, a longtime friend of Mr Trump and multiple other high-profile men, was found dead in a New York prison cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges that he sexually exploited dozens of underage girls at his homes in New York and Florida.
The case sparked conspiracy theories, especially among Mr Trump's far-right voters, about an alleged international cabal of wealthy pedophiles.
Epstein's death, which was declared a suicide, before he could face trial, supercharged that narrative.
Since returning to power in January, Mr Trump has moved to increase control over the press covering the White House.
In February, the Oval Office stripped the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) of its nearly century-old authority to oversee which outlets have access to certain restricted presidential events, with Mr Trump saying that he was now "calling the shots" on media access.
In a statement, the WHCA president urged the White House to "restore" the WSJ 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.
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