
Wall Street Journal booted from White House press trip to Scotland after Epstein report
The reporters' removal, first reported by Politico, also follows the president's $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the newspaper and the journalists who wrote the story, as well as right-wing media mogul Rupert Murdoch and parent companies News Corp and Dow Jones.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement shared with The Independent that neither the newspaper nor '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.'
'Due to the Wall Street Journal 's fake and defamatory conduct, they will not be one of the thirteen outlets on board,' she said. '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.'
The Independent has requested comment from the WSJ and White House Correspondents Association.
Trump's lawsuit filed in federal court in Miami on July 18 claims the newspaper, its parent companies, executives and journalists falsely smeared the president by accusing him of writing a sexually suggestive birthday card to Epstein in 2003.
The birthday greeting is described by the newspaper as including a sexually suggestive drawing and a birthday wish that says 'may every day be another wonderful secret.'
A letter reportedly bearing Trump's name, which the WSJ report claims was reviewed by the newspaper, contains several lines of typewritten text framed by a drawing of a naked woman. His signature is a squiggly 'Donald' below her waist, mimicking pubic hair, according to the report.
The defendants 'failed to attach the letter, failed to attach the alleged drawing, failed to show proof that President Trump authored or signed any such letter, and failed to explain how this purported letter was obtained,' according to Trump's lawsuit.
'The reason for those failures is because no authentic letter or drawing exists,' the complaint claims.
This is a developing story

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Independent
25 minutes ago
- The Independent
MPs urge ministers to introduce long-awaited rules on supply chain deforestation
MPs have called on ministers to introduce long-awaited rules aimed at removing products from UK shelves that have been farmed on land where trees were cut down. The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) wrote to Environment Secretary Steve Reed calling for urgent action to tackle the issue in supply chains. Under the previous Government's proposals, businesses will be prohibited from using or selling goods containing palm oil, cocoa, beef, leather and soy linked to deforestation. This due diligence system was part of the 2021 Environment Act but ministers are yet to bring forward the necessary secondary legislation or set a timetable for when they will do so. EAC chairman Toby Perkins asked Mr Reed to set out a specific date for introducing the legislation 'ideally before the New Year' so that the rules can be in place for the new financial year in April. The letter said: 'Delays in bringing forward this legislation makes the Cop15 agreement to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, and the UK's commitment to ending deforestation and forest degradation by 2030, harder to achieve. 'However, it also leaves businesses with uncertainty and will leave them with less time to prepare and comply with the regime. 'On 2 June, in your response to the Committee, you recognised the urgency of taking action to ensure forest risk commodities are not driving deforestation and stated you would set out the Government approach in due course.' Several British supermarkets recently warned that they are in 'limbo' waiting for the Government to introduce the new rules. In an open letter earlier this month, retailers such as Tesco, Sainsbury's and Lidl said deforestation presents an increasing risk to supply chain stability as well as food security. But they also said the UK could suffer millions in export losses to the European Union if Government inaction leaves businesses unprepared to comply with the bloc's own deforestation rules, which are due to come into force at the end of this year. Asked recently whether the Government has a timetable for introducing the legislation, the Environment Secretary told the PA news agency: 'Currently no, but we are working at pace so we can do this as quickly as possible.' On the supermarkets' letter and whether the Government is looking to speed up progress on introducing the rules, Mr Reed said: 'Absolutely.' 'I agree with the supermarkets,' he said. 'The previous Government was just dragging their heels without ever coming to a conclusion about what we do about protecting forests in other countries as well as in our own country. 'And of course forests, trees, woodlands were very important for capturing carbon and cleaning the atmosphere so we don't want to be importing food that has been grown where the forests have been destroyed. 'The Government is working with supermarkets, with food producers and internationally to make sure we get the outcome and we can do that as soon as possible to give everybody certainty about how we move forward on this.'


The Independent
25 minutes ago
- The Independent
Inside the Republican revolt in the House over the Epstein files that led to the early summer recess for Congress
House Republicans revolted against GOP leadership over the Trump administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files in the days before Speaker Mike Johnson ushered in the chamber's early summer recess to avoid dealing with the crisis, according to a report. As controversy over the administration's refusal to release all government files related to the sex offender continues, Johnson faced a 'growing crisis' of his own among key GOP allies as leadership refused to bring any action on Epstein to the House floor, Politico reports. Behind the scenes, GOP leaders faced a 'standoff' with rank-and-file members who were 'incensed' when they were forced to vote against a Democratic-led effort to release the Epstein files a week before, according to the outlet. Some lawmakers reportedly 'begged' for action on Epstein in closed-door meetings as they warned Republican leadership that the problem wasn't going away. The new reported details illustrate the chaos of what was happening behind the scenes as President Donald Trump continues to be plagued by the case of the convicted pedophile. GOP Rep. Virginia Foxx of Virginia, chair of the House Rules Committee that serves as a final gatekeeper to legislation where a simple majority vote is required, threatened to bring activity on the House floor to a halt unless a better solution to the Epstein issue was put forward, two people with knowledge of the conversation told Politico. The rebellion prompted Trump to meet with GOP members of the House Rules Committee in the Oval Office Tuesday, according to the outlet. Johnson moved to shut down the committee, which meant that the House will not be able to tee up votes to pass many of the spending bills that Congress hoped to pass before the August recess, when members break to go back to their districts. But Johnson likely faces further rebellion in September. 'I think the administration will put more stuff out in August … if they don't, then I promise you, there's going to be some more looking at this in the first week of September,' warned Rep. Chip Roy of Texas. Republican lawmakers have expressed anger over the Epstein fallout, and said they are under intense pressure from constituents on the issue. The rebellion of House Republicans who favored releasing more documents in the Epstein case came as a 'surprise' to White House officials, according to Politico. One anonymous GOP member told CNN that members wanted a chance to vote on the issue. 'To be accused of trying to cover up for a pedophile, it's detestable,' they told the network. Word had got out that Democrats were planning to force an Epstein-related vote Monday. At a meeting with GOP Rules Committee members that evening, Johnson reportedly presented three options on how to proceed. Ultimately, leadership opted to halt the action of the House Rules Committee. 'The rule was going down anyway,' a source with knowledge of the meeting told Politico. 'So the choice was clear.' Johnson defended effectively shutting down the House while speaking with reporters Wednesday. 'No one in Congress is blocking Epstein documents,' he said. The rebellion follows recent revelations that the Department of Justice told Trump that his name appears multiple times in the Epstein files, according to multiple senior administration sources. The sources told The Wall Street Journal that Attorney General Pam Bondi and her deputy, Todd Blanche, informed the president during a May meeting at the White House that the president's name emerged after they sifted through a 'truckload' of documents related to Epstein. Following the Journal's report, sources familiar with the exchange confirmed the account to both The New York Times and CNN. Appearing in the files does not indicate that an individual has committed any wrongdoing, nor has Trump ever been accused of misconduct in connection with the Epstein case. 'This is another fake news story, just like the previous story by The Wall Street Journal,' White House communications director Steven Cheung said about the claims Trump was named.


The Independent
25 minutes ago
- The Independent
Gunman convicted of murdering young man near Damilola Taylor Centre
A gunman has been found guilty of fatally shooting a young man in the head in an alleyway near the Damilola Taylor Centre. Jesse Lloyd-Smith, 20, was found by his mother fatally injured yards from their home in Peckham, south-east London, on July 10 2024. The killer, 19-year-old Gabriel Charles, travelled to the scene in an Ford S-Max car which was burnt out days later. The defendant, who fled the country after the shooting, had denied being present at the scene of the killing. On Thursday, a jury at the Old Bailey found Charles, from Southwark, south London, guilty of murder. Co-defendant Kywan JN Pierre, 18, from Selhurst, south London, was cleared of murder but convicted of plotting to pervert the course of justice. Five others were found guilty of helping dispose of evidence as the killer sought to evade justice. Previously, the court had heard how the silver-coloured Ford S-Max had driven slowly towards the alleyway at around 4.50pm last July 10. Prosecutor James Dawes KC had said: 'The S-Max passed the Damilola Taylor centre, turned the corner and stopped.' The gunman got out of the S-Max and ran towards the victim, firing at least five shots as he went, jurors had heard. Mr Dawes had said: 'Some of the shots hit Jesse knocking him to the ground. The gunman ran back to the car which drove away.' The victim's mother, Ty Lloyd-Smith, was in her flat only yards away and heard the noise of shots. Mr Dawes said: 'She saw the shooter but what she could not see was her son because he was in the alleyway. She feared the worst and she shouted out Jesse's name.' She ran downstairs to find her son lying on the ground, shot in the head, jurors heard. His friend, Jamie Burgess, was frantically trying to help him and told police a person called 'S' was involved. The victim was taken to hospital for emergency surgery but he died the next day. A search of the scene, with dogs, led to the recovery of four spent cartridges and two unfired bullets all from a 9mm automatic pistol. The shooting was partly captured on CCTV footage although it was from some distance away, Mr Dawes said. Ben Nguyen, 20, of no fixed address; Enver Francis, 22, from Southwark; Abdoul Guene, 18, from Peckham; Kadjo Kadio, 21, from Dartford; and a 17-year-old youth, who cannot be identified, were found guilty of conspiring to pervert the course of justice by removing the Ford S-Max car and destroying it by fire two days later. Kadio, who voluntarily absented himself from the trial, and Nguyen were convicted of assisting an offender. Damilola Taylor, 10, was fatally stabbed in in Peckham, London, on November 27 2000.