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U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the press on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., on July 11, 2025. (Photo: Mehmet Eser / Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
"Due to The Wall Street Journal's fake and defamatory conduct, they will not be one of the 13 outlets on board," said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
U.S. President Donald Trump's White House on Monday once again retaliated againstThe Wall Street Journal days after it published a story about a sexually explicit birthday card that Trump reportedly gave to late billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to celebrate his 50th birthday back in 2003.
Politico reports that the Journal has been removed from the pool of reporters who are tagging along with the president during his upcoming trip to Scotland. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Politico that the move was a direct response to the Rupert Murdoch-owned paper's decision to publish a story about the card Trump allegedly sent to Epstein, whom authorities have concluded died by suicide in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking charges.
"Due to The Wall Street Journal's fake and defamatory conduct, they will not be one of the 13 outlets on board," Leavitt said. "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."
A spokesperson for the Journal declined to comment when contacted by Politico.
According to the Journal's reporting, the card Trump sent to Epstein "contains several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker" and features "the future president's signature" as "a squiggly 'Donald' below her waist, mimicking pubic hair."
Trump quickly filed a libel lawsuit against the paper that sought at least $20 billion in damages for what it described as "glaring failures in journalistic ethics and standards of accurate reporting." WSJ parent company Dow Jones stood by the paper's reporting in the wake of the Trump lawsuit and said that "we have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting."
The Trump administration earlier this year revoked The Associated Press' access because it refused to refer to the body of water known as the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America."
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
U.S. President Donald Trump's White House on Monday once again retaliated againstThe Wall Street Journal days after it published a story about a sexually explicit birthday card that Trump reportedly gave to late billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to celebrate his 50th birthday back in 2003.
Politico reports that the Journal has been removed from the pool of reporters who are tagging along with the president during his upcoming trip to Scotland. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Politico that the move was a direct response to the Rupert Murdoch-owned paper's decision to publish a story about the card Trump allegedly sent to Epstein, whom authorities have concluded died by suicide in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking charges.
"Due to The Wall Street Journal's fake and defamatory conduct, they will not be one of the 13 outlets on board," Leavitt said. "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."
A spokesperson for the Journal declined to comment when contacted by Politico.
According to the Journal's reporting, the card Trump sent to Epstein "contains several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker" and features "the future president's signature" as "a squiggly 'Donald' below her waist, mimicking pubic hair."
Trump quickly filed a libel lawsuit against the paper that sought at least $20 billion in damages for what it described as "glaring failures in journalistic ethics and standards of accurate reporting." WSJ parent company Dow Jones stood by the paper's reporting in the wake of the Trump lawsuit and said that "we have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting."
The Trump administration earlier this year revoked The Associated Press' access because it refused to refer to the body of water known as the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America."
U.S. President Donald Trump's White House on Monday once again retaliated againstThe Wall Street Journal days after it published a story about a sexually explicit birthday card that Trump reportedly gave to late billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to celebrate his 50th birthday back in 2003.
Politico reports that the Journal has been removed from the pool of reporters who are tagging along with the president during his upcoming trip to Scotland. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Politico that the move was a direct response to the Rupert Murdoch-owned paper's decision to publish a story about the card Trump allegedly sent to Epstein, whom authorities have concluded died by suicide in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking charges.
"Due to The Wall Street Journal's fake and defamatory conduct, they will not be one of the 13 outlets on board," Leavitt said. "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."
A spokesperson for the Journal declined to comment when contacted by Politico.
According to the Journal's reporting, the card Trump sent to Epstein "contains several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker" and features "the future president's signature" as "a squiggly 'Donald' below her waist, mimicking pubic hair."
Trump quickly filed a libel lawsuit against the paper that sought at least $20 billion in damages for what it described as "glaring failures in journalistic ethics and standards of accurate reporting." WSJ parent company Dow Jones stood by the paper's reporting in the wake of the Trump lawsuit and said that "we have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting."
The Trump administration earlier this year revoked The Associated Press' access because it refused to refer to the body of water known as the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America."