President Donald Trump's administration is now punishing the Wall Street Journal over its recent bombshell report delving into his friendship with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
According to Politico, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Monday that the Journal would no longer be allowed on board Air Force One as part of the press pool accompanying Trump to Scotland this weekend. Leavitt defended the move as consistent with a prior court ruling banning The Associated Press from the White House press pool, which the administration did in response to the AP refusing to use Trump's preferred name for the Gulf of Mexico.
"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,” Leavitt stated. “Due to the Wall Street Journal’s fake and defamatory conduct, they will not be one of the thirteen outlets on board. 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 Journal is being singled out over its story on a lewd birthday message Trump purportedly sent Epstein in 2003 (three years before his first conviction). According to the report, Trump's message to Epstein was written in the third person, imagining a conversation between the two men in which they had "certain things in common" and may have shared a "wonderful secret." The article came as Trump is being targeted over his administration's refusal to release the remainder of the Epstein-related evidence the FBI is sitting on, and that Trump campaigned on publishing.
In response to the Politico report about the Journal being excluded from Air Force One, SiriusXM host John Fugelsang observed that it was "Trump's brilliant way to: 1) Keep us all from thinking [about] his Epstein coverup, 2) Keep MAGA from knowing [about] his extensive connections to Epstein, and 3) Look totally innocent and not rattled by any of this."
"[T]he most petty and weak president we’ve ever had," former PoliticusUSA writer Sean Colarossi tweeted.
"POV: You have nothing to hide," quipped journalist Matthew Yglesias.
Click here to read Politico's article in its entirety.