WaPo reporter fires back at White House after ‘fake news’ attack: 'We'd welcome it'

A Washington Post reporter fired back at the Trump White House Wednesday after it blasted the newspaper for relying on politically biased experts in an investigation into President Donald Trump’s proposed massive arch near Arlington National Cemetery.

“This is oldest trick in the Fake News playbook,” the White House’s Rapid Response account wrote on X, accusing the newspaper of using “partisan hacks posing as unbiased subject-matter experts.”

The attack followed a Post investigation that found Trump’s planned 250-foot-tall arch would cast shadows over graves and monuments at Arlington National Cemetery, potentially reaching President John F. Kennedy’s grave and eternal flame.

The White House took issue with three experts quoted in the report, pointing to Democratic political donations by Columbia University professor Karla Rothstein and University of Connecticut historian Micki McElya, along with retired Gen. Paul Eaton’s past ties to Democratic campaigns.

But Post reporter Dan Diamond responded with a sarcastic thank you.

“Appreciate the White House's continuing efforts to help people find and read our piece about President Trump's arch,” Diamond wrote Wednesday.

He went on to defend the experts’ credentials, noting that McElya wrote an award-winning book about Arlington and Rothstein leads a Columbia University program focused on architecture and death.

“We spoke to six other historians, architects and experts (most of whom were not quoted in the piece) and who shared similar perspectives,” Diamond added.

He also pointed out that the newspaper included responses from trump administration officials.

“If the White House has further information about its plans for the arch, we'd welcome it,” Diamond concluded.