Two Rupert Murdoch-owned establishment media outlets with contentious relationships with President Donald Trump hosted staff members for prominent House Democrats in February to offer strategic communications advice.
The leftwing Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) sponsored and financed an all-expenses-paid trip for a Democrat-heavy group of congressional staffers to New York City February 27-28 to meet with representatives of Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, Sludge first reported.
PPI, founded in 1989 by the Democratic Leadership Council “as the intellectual home of the New Democrats,” is an arm of the self-described “center-left” Third Way.
Among the attendees of the bipartisan trip were staff for the leader of the House Democrats’ campaign arm and the House Democrats’ chief deputy whip.
The publications briefed staffers on how to better collaborate to spread their bosses’ messages, according to government documents.
The purpose of the junket, which included meals at swanky Manhattan steakhouses, was “[m]eetings with media organizations and reporters to better our understanding of their goals and how we can get our message out through their channels,” according to a post-travel disclosure form on the House Ethics Committee’s website from one of the attendees, Nicholas Martin, the top communications staffer for Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) chair Rep. Suzan DelBene (WA).
According to House Ethics Committee documents, also attending were staff for Democrat Reps. Julie Johnson (TX), Greg Stanton (AZ), George Whitesides (CA), Jared Golden (D-ME), Brad Schneider (IL), and Sharice Davids (KA) – the chief deputy whip. Staff for Republicans Andy Barr (KY), Julia Letlow (LA), and William Timmons (SC) attended the PPI-organized event as well.
Staff for additional offices possibly attended the event as well, although no other filed post-travel disclosure forms were found by Breitbart News.
The House Ethics Committee-approved itinerary for the group of (at least) seven Democrat and three Republican staffers including a private dinner with PPI staff at a Manhattan steakhouse as well meetings with Fox News and Wall Street Journal staff, among others.
The group met at Fox News studios for a rare “tour, networking and discussion with Fox producers and bookers.”
The itinerary also included a coveted Wall Street Journal Editorial Board Discussion, characterized in ethics forms as a “[c]onversation with Paul Gigot, editor of the WSJ editorial page, and columnists about how the editorial page approaches covering Congress and publishing viewpoints from individual members.”
The two Murdoch-owned publications were traditionally considered Republican-friendly before President Donald Trump rose to political power in 2015 and 2016, but have often criticized and traded barbs with Trump.
Trump ripped Fox News Senior White House Correspondent Jacqui Heinrich in a Truth Social post Wednesday.
“I watched Jacqui Heinrich from Fox over the weekend and I thought she was absolutely terrible. She should be working for CNN, not Fox,” Trump posted. “Not surprisingly, I later found out that she’s a fan of the White House Correspondents Association!”
Heinrich protested in February after the White House announced it would open up access to the press pool covering President Donald Trump and his administration, part of a series of decisions designed to increase White House transparency.
Prior to that decision, the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA), a cabal run by Washington establishment journalists, possessed a stranglehold over valuable access to presidents and their administrations. Establishment media outlets empowered by the WHCA have long been presidential gatekeepers until the Trump White House opened access to additional publications.
The WHCA, whose nine-member board consists of establishment media representatives, is currently led by its president, Eugene Daniels, a former White House reporter for leftwing Politico who joined MSNBC in February.
Trump and the Journal have had an often tumultuous relationship as well, with the paper’s editorial pages often attacking Trump’s economic and trade policies.
On March 13, Trump hammered the Journal for “having no idea what they are doing or saying.”
“They are owned by the polluted thinking of the European Union, which was formed for the primary purpose of ‘screwing’ the United States of America,” Trump wrote.
The February congressional staff visits also included a visit to NBC studios, a Columbia University School of Journalism Roundtable, a Discussion with Moody’s Credit Rating Agency, a visit to the New York Stock Exchange, and a social media workshop with the Google communications teams.
Bradley Jaye is Deputy Political Editor for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter and Instagram @BradleyAJaye.
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