White House removes WSJ from Scotland trip after Epstein report

Bloomberg News on Jul 21, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

The White House said it would remove The Wall Street Journal from the small group of reporters traveling with the president on his upcoming trip to Scotland after the newspaper published a story alleging Donald Trump once sent a suggestive birthday letter to the late, disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“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,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

Leavitt did not say if the Journal would also be blocked from traveling with the president on domestic trips, or covering him in restricted environments like the Oval Office.

The Wall Street Journal declined to comment, but a spokesperson previously said they had “full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting.” The White House Correspondents’ Association, which represents journalists covering the president, denounced the move.

“Government retaliation against news outlets based on the content of their reporting should concern all who value free speech and an independent media,” WHCA President Weijia Jiang said in a statement.

The flap is the latest instance of the White House exerting control over the configuration of the rotating groups of journalists who cover the president around the clock and are able to access environments with limited space — effectively pooling their resources when coverage by every outlet is impractical.

Those rotations had been handled for decades by the WHCA, but the White House announced it would take over naming poolers in February, after sparring with the Associated Press over its decision to continue using “Gulf of Mexico” in copy despite Trump’s move to rename the body of water the “Gulf of America.”

In April, the White House said it was eliminating longstanding press pool slots for wire services, slashing the traditional level of access for journalists from the Associated Press, Reuters and Bloomberg News.

Those wire services are now offered occasional access to the president in limited settings, and Bloomberg is expected to be among the outlets in the pool for part of the Scotland trip.

The move against the Wall Street Journal comes days after Trump sued Dow Jones & Co., News Corp. and Rupert Murdoch for libel over their report about the birthday letter.

____

(With assistance from Hadriana Lowenkron and Akayla Gardner.)