White House Correspondents’ Association condemns White House’s move to exclude newspaper as ‘deeply troubling’.
Published On 22 Jul 2025
United States President Donald Trump’s administration has barred The Wall Street Journal from accompanying the president on an upcoming overseas trip amid a spat over the newspaper’s coverage of his links to the notorious financier Jeffrey Epstein.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday that the Journal would not be among 13 media outlets travelling with Trump on a visit to Scotland this weekend due to its “fake and defamatory conduct”.
“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,” Leavitt said in a statement.
The move comes after the Journal last week reported that Trump sent Epstein, who died in jail in 2009 while facing sex trafficking charges, a “bawdy” letter in 2003 to mark the occasion of his 50th birthday.
Trump, who has vigorously denied the report, on Friday filed a defamation lawsuit against the newspaper and its owners seeking $20bn in damages.
In a statement, the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) called the Trump administration’s move “deeply troubling”.
“Government retaliation against news outlets based on the content of their r