WSJ reporter pulled from press pool in retaliation for Epstein article

The Wall Street Journal was removed from the White House press pool on July 21, 2025, in retaliation for the paper’s exclusive reporting on a letter allegedly written in 2003 by President Donald Trump to Jeffrey Epstein, a disgraced financier charged with sex trafficking of minors.

A July 17 Journal article described entries in a leatherbound book compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003, including a letter allegedly from Trump that was typed within the drawn outline of a woman and included the sign-off, “may every day be another wonderful secret.” No copy of the letter was included in the article.

Trump immediately took to his social platform, Truth Social, to refute the reporting and condemn the newspaper and the editor behind the article. On July 18, the president followed through on threats to sue the Journal and News Corp — the paper’s parent company — as well as its founder Rupert Murdoch and its CEO Robert Thomson.

A spokesperson for the paper’s publisher, Dow Jones, told the Journal, “We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit.”

The Wall Street Journal’s White House correspondent, Tarini Parti, was then booted from the press pool for Trump’s planned trip to Scotland from July 25-29. Politico reported that Parti was set to serve as the print pooler for the final two days of the trip and was removed even though she was not an author on the Epstein article.

The White House had previously wrested control of the presidential press pool from the White House Correspondents’ Association in February, breaking with more than a century of practice.

In a statement to Politico, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that no news outlets are guaranteed special access to the president in his private workspaces.

“Due to the Wall Street Journal’s fake and defamatory conduct, they will not be one of the thirteen 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 White House spokesperson declined to comment to Politico concerning whether the Journal would be barred from further press pools as well.

Dow Jones declined to comment when reached by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. Parti did not respond to a request for comment.

The WHCA criticized the move in a statement, saying it is a clear attempt to punish a news outlet for coverage it doesn’t like.

“Government retaliation against news outlets based on the content of their reporting should concern all who value free speech and an independent media,” wrote Weijia Jiang, CBS News correspondent and the association’s president. “We strongly urge the White House to restore the Wall Street Journal to its previous position in the pool and aboard Air Force One for the President’s upcoming trip to Scotland.”

Freedom of the Press Foundation, of which the Tracker is a project, also condemned the decision. “It’s highly disturbing that a U.S. president has so little respect for the First Amendment that he’s willing to punish news outlets that don’t toe the line,” Seth Stern, FPF’s advocacy director, said.