The White House this week launched new broadsides against the news media, blocking a reporter from serving in the pool covering the president and sending a letter threatening Politico over its coverage of White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
On Wednesday, a reporter for the British outlet the Independent, Andrew Feinberg, received notice from the White House that he will be not allowed to serve as the designated representative of the out-of-town print pool for Trump’s trip to Iowa on Thursday, according to two people familiar who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share sensitive details. Feinberg received an unsigned email from the White House press office, the people added.
The out-of-town pool travels with the president to cover his trips out of Washington; a rotation of reporters from a variety of outlets fills the role.
The move against Feinberg, after a contentious encounter with Trump on Wednesday, marks the latest attempt by the White House to push back on coverage it dislikes by revoking access normally granted to members of the press.
The move quickly prompted pushback from the White House Correspondents’ Association.
“That is retaliation. The American public’s right to an independent press depends on reporters being able to do their jobs without fear that challenging the president will cut off their access,” Jacqui Heinrich, the WHCA president, said in a statement.
Feinberg did not respond to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, in a letter dated Monday, the White House threatened Politico over articles it published. The news outlet responded Wednesday pushing back on the White House letter but acknowledged it made a correction to one of the articles following the complaint.
In the Monday letter, sent to Politico’s global editor in chief Jonathan Greenberger and shared with The Washington Post by the White House, a lawyer for the White House demanded that Politico retract “defamatory” articles about Wiles and issue corrections or “face the consequences.”
“Politico’s conduct raises serious questions about its adherence to the most basic standards of ethics, journalistic integrity, and the standards of professionalism expected of serious news publications,” wrote White House Counsel William O. Scharf.
Scharf wrote that if Politico did not retract the articles in 48 hours, it will lead to “an immediate review of Politico’s relationship with the White House, and, of course, consideration of all other appropriate and available legal remedies.”
“No person and no journalist has a constitutional right to access the President’s Oval Office, Air Force One, or other sensitive and private facilities,” a White House spokesperson wrote in a Wednesday statement. “When publications lie, fabricate, and ignore the truth, proximity matters less and they can write their fiction from outside of these secure facilities.”
Axios first reported news of the letter to Politico on Wednesday.
Politico responded to the White House in a Wednesday letter shared with The Post. In it, Politico acknowledged that one of the cited articles contained an error that it corrected. Follow-up reporting, Politico said, found that one article “mischaracterized the role White House chief of staff Susie Wiles played in then-press secretary Katie Zacharia’s interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News.”
It corrected the article to say that Wiles did not play a direct role in setting up the interview, though she offered “positive reinforcement” for it.“
“Promptly and transparently making corrections, as POLITICO has done here, is a hallmark of journalistic ethics and integrity, and of the very professionalism your letter falsely claims POLITICO is lacking,” Theodore J. Boutrous Jr., a partner for the law firm Gibson Dunn representing Politico, wrote in the response.
But Boutros took issue with Scharf’s original letter, saying that the “timing and substance” confirms the “unlawful retaliatory and viewpoint discriminatory motives” of the White House’s September ban of Politico, along with CNN and MS NOW.
“POLITICO will defend its journalism and the right of its reporters to pursue their mission and report fearlessly on the President and other White House officials for the benefit of the American public, notwithstanding the White House’s ongoing attempts to intimidate POLITICO and chill and punish that reporting.”
Scharf’s letter did not specify what consequences Politico might face. The White House did not respond immediately to a question about whether Politico’s correction satisfied its complaints.
The administration is barred from revoking the outlet’s access to the White House grounds under a preliminary injunction from a federal judge stemming from Trump’s September decision to shut out Politico as well as CNN and MS NOW.
Following the failed attempt to ban the three media outlets, the White House has homed in on the press pool, a cost-sharing system where outlets rotate responsibilities for covering and filming the president’s daily movements. Outlets barred from the pool have contended that the administration’s move is a violation of their First Amendment rights.
While a judge has ordered the White House to restore access to Politico, CNN and MS NOW, CNN has continued to be barred from flying on Air Force One — effectively preventing the network from fulfilling its pool duties when the president travels. The network has now threatened additional legal action against the administration if the administration does not allow it on the plane.
The Justice Department also recently launched an antitrust investigation into five major television networks over a decision to temporarily halt the rotational TV pool after CNN was blocked from the White House grounds.
Trump berated Feinberg in the Oval Office earlier on Tuesday after the reporter asked questions about the administration’s new cash reward program for citizens that uncover fraud, as well as its plans to renovate the popular public golf course in East Potomac Park.
Feinberg teed up a question by describing the Trump administration’s new bounty program as awarding 10 percent of uncovered fraud — actually 1 percent, several people in the room corrected him.
“One percent? Okay, that’s actually worse,” Feinberg replied, saying under the False Claims Act, the government usually offers much more. He continued with his question while Trump briefly interjected.
“Why would someone who have evidence of genuine fraud go to your task force?” Feinberg said.
“Because it’s a lot of money,” Trump replied.
Addressing Feinberg, Vice President JD Vance called it a “fundamentally dishonest question,” saying the new program was much broader than fraud uncovered under the False Claims Act. Trump lashed out at Feinberg later in the news conference, and the White House’s rapid response account on X referred to Feinberg as a “Mongoloid Moron.”
“For the record, I had an annual physical earlier this month, and I can report I’m in perfect health,” Feinberg wrote in a piece on Wednesday evening. “I was doing my job, and I’ll be right back at it tomorrow.”
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