White House Strikes Back After Wall Street Journal’s Epstein Smear on President Trump
In a bold and unprecedented move, the White House under President Donald J. Trump has removed a Wall Street Journal reporter from the press pool following what it described as a “fake and defamatory” hit piece attempting to link the President to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a firm statement to Politico, clarifying that no media outlet has a constitutional right to privileged access:
“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 emphasized that due to the Journal’s reckless publication of what she called “fake and defamatory conduct,” it would not be among the thirteen outlets permitted aboard Air Force One for the President’s recent visit to Scotland. She added that countless outlets around the world seek access to President Trump, and the administration is focused on fairness and journalistic integrity — not tabloid smears masquerading as news.
At the heart of the controversy is a supposed letter President Trump allegedly sent Epstein for his 50th birthday — a letter the Journal referenced but never published. The article, written by Khadeeja Safdar and Joe Palazzolo, failed to provide any verifiable evidence and instead relied on sensationalism to push a narrative that Trump’s legal team says is entirely fabricated.
“There is no letter, no drawing, and no truth to this story,” the lawsuit against the Journal and its parent company, News Corp, reads. The filing slams the piece as riddled with “glaring failures in journalistic ethics and standards of accurate reporting.”
President Trump is now suing the Wall Street Journal and its parent company for a staggering $10 billion in damages. The lawsuit also names the two reporters involved, holding them personally accountable for their role in what the President sees as an orchestrated political attack.
According to CNN, Trump’s attorneys further assert:
“The reason for those failures is because no authentic letter or drawing exists.”
Trump warned the Journal before publication that the letter in question was a fabrication and said Rupert Murdoch himself had promised not to run the story.
“The Wall Street Journal, and Rupert Murdoch, personally, were warned directly by President Donald J. Trump that the supposed letter they printed by President Trump to Epstein was a FAKE and, if they print it, they will be sued,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“But, obviously, [Murdoch] did not have the power to do so,” he added.
This isn’t the first time President Trump has taken aggressive legal action to hold media corporations accountable. The Associated Press recently lost favored access after its refusal to adopt “Gulf of America” terminology in its reporting — a matter now tied up in appellate court. In 2024, Trump successfully sued ABC News over George Stephanopoulos’s false claim that he had been convicted of rape in the E. Jean Carroll case. The result? Disney quietly settled and agreed to pay $16 million toward Trump’s upcoming presidential library.
Other major players like CBS, Meta, and X have already folded in separate defamation cases, opting for settlements rather than risk public trials. The Journal, however, appears poised for a high-stakes legal showdown — one that could set the tone for media accountability in the Trump era.
Legal experts admit the magnitude of this legal offensive is historic.
“As far as I can tell, no sitting president has ever sued a reporter or media outlet or media executive for allegedly defaming him,” First Amendment attorney Ted Boutrous told CNN. “When you have the presidential bully pulpit, you simply don’t need to sue to get to the truth.”
But President Trump is not following the old rules — he’s rewriting them.