The New York Times has issued a message supporting the Wall Street Journal as US President Donald Trump escalated his ongoing fight with the publication. Controversy arose earlier this month after WSJ published a story linking the Republican leader to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. The POTUS has sought at least $10 billion each on two counts of defamation and subsequently curtailed access to its reporters for Presidential events.
“The White House‘s refusal to allow one of the nation’s leading news organizations to cover the highest office in the country is an attack on core constitutional principles underpinning free speech and a free press. Americans regardless of party deserve to know and understand the actions of the president, and reporters play a vital role in advancing that public interest. This is simple retribution by a president against a news organization for doing reporting that he doesn’t like. Such actions deprive Americans of information about how their government operates,” an NYT spokesperson said.
Trump had previously filed a defamation case against the New York Times in 2020 over an op-ed linking him to an illegal deal with Russia. The case was dismissed in 2022 with the President later filing an appeal. The Wall Street Journal leans conservative editorially, but hasn’t been afraid to take Trump on in both its opinion and news sections. Other Murdoch outlets — Fox News Channel and the New York Post — are much friendlier to him.
Multimillion-dollar settlements
Trump has won several multimillion-dollar settlements over the past few years by suing news publications and social media platforms. Aggressiveness with the press has also been a key part of the Trump Presidential playbook with multiple cases currently winding their way through the courts. The White House had previously restricted the access of journalists from The Associated Press to official media events after the news outlet refused to change its style guidelines to reflect Trump’s renaming of the Gulf of Mexico — sparking yet another legal battle.
He had sued CBS News last year for its editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with former opponent Kamala Harris — eventually receiving a $16 million settlement payout from Paramount. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was cancelled three days after its host called the payment a “a big fat bribe” linked to the Paramount-Skydance Media merger — which requires Trump administration approval. Insiders and political figures have linked the two facts despite CBS insistence that the decision was ‘purely financial’.
Trump had also sued ABC News for a false statement made by TV host George Stephanopoulos in connection with the E Jean Carroll case. Another case was filed against social media giant Meta after it removed Trump’s social media accounts following the January 6 Capitol attack.
$10 billion defamation lawsuits, reporter banished by White House
US President Donald Trump filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the Journal and Murdoch on Friday because of the newspaper’s article about a sexually suggestive letter bearing Trump’s name that was included in a 2003 album compiled for alleged sex trafficker Epstein’s birthday. The president has denied having anything to do with it.
The White House said on Monday it was removing a Journal reporter from the pool covering the president’s trip this weekend to his golf courses in Turnberry and Aberdeen in Scotland. The Journal’s Tarini Parti had been scheduled to cover him on the trip.
“Due to the Wall Street Journal’s fake and defamatory conduct, they will not be one of the thirteen outlets on board,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
(Within inputs from agencies)