Vice President JD Vance has been exposed as the source of a story whose supposed leak was used by the White House in court to justify the termination of Politico's access to the press pool, Oliver Darcy reported for Status.
In the court battle today, the report said, "The White House singled out six stories published by POLITICO, including a June 2026 article that cited a 'senior administration official' who put the odds of the U.S. striking a deal with Iran to end the war at between 80 and 85 percent." This was characterized as some sort of leak that endangered national security.
However, according to Status, that "senior administration official" was Vance, who was "speaking on a background call with reporters authorized by the White House," and had been granted anonymity by the press pool.
This revelation throws serious doubt on the idea that Politico's reporting posed a security threat that justified revoking their access.
President Donald Trump announced last Friday that he was barring CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House, citing what he called their "constant 'reporting' FAKE NEWS." The following day, reporters' entry badges for all three outlets were disabled, preventing their journalists from accessing the White House grounds.
The banned outlets responded Monday by filing a joint First Amendment lawsuit in federal court, arguing the ban amounted to unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination and violated their due process rights.
The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly, a Trump appointee who, during Trump's first term, ruled against the administration in a similar 2018 dispute involving then-CNN correspondent Jim Acosta, whose press credentials were revoked after a heated on-camera exchange with Trump. In today's court hearing, Kelly appeared equally skeptical of the new reporter ban.