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The New York Times is defending the Wall Street Journal after the Trump administration decided to bar the global outlet from the White House press pool following its investigative coverage of ties between Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein.
In the public statement, a Times spokesperson said the White House’s actions represented “simple retribution by a president against a news organization for doing reporting that he doesn’t like”, warning that “such actions deprive Americans of information about how their government operates”.
“The White House’s refusal to allow one of the nation’s leading news organizations to cover the highest office in the country is an attack on core constitutional principles underpinning free speech and a free press,” the spokesperson said.
“Americans regardless of party deserve to know and understand the actions of the president, and reporters play a vital role in advancing that public interest.”
The Times’ intervention follows the Trump administration’s recent exclusion of the Wall Street Journal from accompanying the president on his trip to Scotland as part of the travel press pool following the publication of a story that alleged Trump sent a “bawdy” birthday letter to Epstein in 2003.
Their story claims that Trump at the time was part of a collective that sent Epstein birthday wishes in a leather-bound book, with his entry containing suggestive content and drawings of a naked woman. Trump has disputed the allegations and filed a $10bn defamation lawsuit against the publication, and the paper has stood by its reporting.
White House Correspondents’ Association president, Weijia Jiang, has also denounced the exclusion as “deeply troubling” and an act of “government retaliation” that undermines first amendment protections.
But the banning represents just the latest version of the tactic in the Trump administration’s evidently hostile relationship with the press since taking office earlier this year. In February, the White House blocked the Associated Press from the press pool after the news agency refused to adopt Trump’s preferred terminology of “Gulf of America” instead of the longstanding “Gulf of Mexico” in its reporting.
The administration has also assumed direct control of press pool assignments, a role traditionally managed by the White House Correspondent’s Association, which enables a selective inclusion, and exclusion, of media outlets.
Trump has also filed lawsuits against several major media companies, including CBS/Paramount, ABC News, and Meta, in addition to the Wall Street Journal action. All companies have settled their cases for millions of dollars.
