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Trump removes WSJ from Scotland trip press pool over Epstein letter
The White House on Monday barred The Wall Street Journal from traveling with US President Donald Trump during his upcoming visit to Scotland, after the newspaper reported that he wrote a bawdy birthday message to his former friend, alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.The move comes after Trump on Friday sued the WSJ and its media magnate owner Rupert Murdoch for at least $10 billion over the allegation in the article, which 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.
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'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 thirteen outlets on board (Air Force One).'
Trump departs this weekend for Scotland, where he owns two golf resorts and will meet with UK 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 Trump had written a suggestive birthday letter to Epstein in 2003, illustrated with a naked woman and alluding to a shared 'secret.'
Epstein, a longtime friend of Trump and multiple other high-profile men, was found hanging 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 Trump's far-right voters, about an alleged international cabal of wealthy pedophiles.
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Epstein's death – declared a suicide – before he could face trial supercharged that narrative.
Since returning to power in January, 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 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 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.
'Government retaliation against news outlets based on the content of their reporting should concern all who value free speech and an independent media.'
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It has also ordered a huge number of Rafale jets from France, amid other equipment. At its core, the Southeast Asian theatre remains central to the unfolding Great Power contest between the US and China (backed by Russia). But it is also a landscape where middle powers—France, the UK, Turkey, and others—continue to shape the strategic environment in nuanced but significant ways. The Thailand-Cambodia escalation underscores not only the unresolved trauma of colonial legacies but also how quickly they can be weaponised in today's fraught geopolitical climate. As great powers manoeuvre and middle powers assert their influence, the Indo-Pacific grows more complex. With war now an ever-present possibility rather than a distant threat, Southeast Asia finds itself not just at the centre of Cold War 2.0—but at the frontline of an increasingly crowded, competitive, and dangerous global order. Swasti Rao is a Consulting Editor (International and Strategic Affairs) at ThePrint. She tweets @swasrao. Views are personal. (Edited by Asavari Singh)
