White House pulls WSJ from Trump's Scotland press pool over Epstein reporting

What they're saying: "As the appeals court confirmed, the Wall Street Journal or any other news outlet are not guaranteed special access to cover President Trump in the Oval Office, aboard Air Force One, and in his private workspaces," Leavitt said in a statement.

• "Due to the Wall Street Journal's fake and defamatory conduct, they will not be one of the thirteen outlets on board," she added.

Context: During a legal dispute with the Associated Press, the Trump White House earlier this year altered decades-old protocols and took over deciding which news outlets can cover the president at meetings and events when space is limited.

• The Trump administration has repeatedly taken aim at the press, doing more to target traditional media companies than any other modern U.S. president.

Zoom in: The WSJ published a story describing a "bawdy" birthday letter to Epstein with Trump's name.

• The letter, which the WSJ reports that was in an album that Ghislaine Maxwell put together in 2003 for Epstein's birthday.
• The WSJ reported that Department of Justice officials reviewed pages from the album years ago, but that it wasn't clear if the DOJ under Trump looked at the documents before reaching the conclusion that there's no evidence to suggest Epstein was killed or kept a "client list."

Go deeper: Trump sues Wall Street Journal for libel over Epstein letter