By Dayo Ade Olusola |US News |July 22, 2025
The White House has barred The Wall Street Journal from accompanying U.S. President Donald Trump on his upcoming visit to Scotland, following the paper’s explosive report alleging that Trump once penned a suggestive birthday letter to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The ban comes a day after Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the Journal and its parent company, News Corp, owned by Rupert Murdoch, over the story. The report, which Trump vehemently denies, claims he sent Epstein a 50th birthday message in 2003 featuring a naked woman and alluding to a shared “secret.”
“This is fake and defamatory conduct,” said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. “As the appeals court confirmed, The Wall Street Journal or any other news outlet is not guaranteed special access to cover President Trump.”
Leavitt confirmed the Journal would be excluded from the 13-outlet press pool traveling aboard Air Force One as Trump departs for Scotland this weekend. The president is scheduled to meet British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and visit his golf properties in the country.
This marks at least the second time the Trump administration has moved to exclude a major media organization from the presidential press corps, having previously denied Associated Press reporters access to multiple events earlier this year.
The incident has added fuel to a growing rift within Trump’s far-right MAGA base over his links to Epstein, a convicted sex offender who died by suicide in jail in 2019 while awaiting federal trial on sex trafficking charges.
While Trump has denied any wrongdoing, the resurgence of the Epstein saga — and the push among some MAGA loyalists for full disclosure of the so-called “Epstein Files” — has threatened to fracture his support among conspiracy-driven factions of his base.
Earlier this month, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Department of Justice had found no evidence that Epstein maintained a blackmail “client list” involving prominent figures — a claim long echoed by online conspiracy theorists.
The Wall Street Journal article, published Thursday, cited anonymous sources and claimed the president’s letter to Epstein included a risqué illustration and playful innuendo. Trump has denied the letter’s authenticity and accused the outlet of political defamation.
Epstein, who had longtime social connections with numerous elites including Trump, Bill Clinton, and Prince Andrew, was arrested in 2019 on charges of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls. His death — ruled a suicide — sparked a frenzy of speculation and allegations of cover-up.
In response to the Journal‘s exclusion from the press pool, Wall Street Journal publisher Almar Latour has not commented publicly. However, the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) condemned the move, calling it “retaliatory.”
“This attempt by the White House to punish a media outlet whose coverage it does not like is deeply troubling, and it defies the First Amendment,” said WHCA President Weijia Jiang. “Government retaliation against news outlets based on the content of their reporting should concern all who value free speech and an independent media.”
Since returning to office in January, Trump has taken aggressive steps to tighten control over press access. In February, the Oval Office stripped the WHCA of its authority to determine press pool inclusion, with Trump stating, “I’m calling the shots now.”
As Trump prepares for high-level meetings in the UK, the media fallout over the Epstein letter continues to escalate — with potential legal, political, and constitutional ramifications.
