White House to Politico: Retract stories or face "consequences"
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Politico Global Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Greenberger stands outside the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Court House after a hearing on Oct. 8. Photo by Finn Gomez/Getty Images)
The White House counsel's office warned Politico in a Monday letter that it had 48 hours to retract or correct recent stories about alleged staff drama, or it would suffer unspecified consequences.
- That deadline expires Thursday.
Why it matters: The White House demand threatens to escalate already tense relations with Politico specifically and, more generally, the press corps that covers President Trump in Washington.
- Politico, CNN, and MS NOW are already banned from covering Trump in the Oval Office and on Air Force One because the president does not like their coverage.
- Trump blocked all three outlets from the White House grounds as well, but a judge on Oct. 13 restored their access.
- CNN threatened legal action Wednesday to regain access to Air Force One and the "pool" of television networks that accompany the president.
Zoom in: In his letter to Politico, White House Counsel Will Scharf singled out three stories concerning White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles despite "on-the-record refutations" or contrary evidence supplied by senior staff and even the president.
1) Oct. 15: In a story headlined "Trump's ice maiden is under fire," Politico Playbook reported that Trump was considering a replacement for Wiles. Trump called it "fake news."
2) Oct. 16: Politico Playbook wrote that the prior day's story had caused a "freakout" and that the president "blew up" over it. A White House spokesman called it "unbelievably stupid and false."
3) Oct. 16: In a story headlined "Susie Wiles helped set up Fox interview ahead of press secretary's exit," Politico insinuated the chief of staff set up Katie Zacharia to fail in a Sean Hannity interview on Fox the night before.
- The White House and Fox News denied the reporting. And White House officials provided text messages to Politico before publication showing Zacharia — not Wiles — set up the interview, which the New York Post reported the following day.
- "Politico has not corrected or retracted its false reporting. Instead, a Politico reporter confirmed that Politico declined to remove Ms. Wiles from the story because she was the 'hook' for the story — a legally fraught and alarming admission to say the least," Scharf wrote.
What they're saying: Scharf wrote that "freedom of the press is not a professional exemption from accountability. I therefore demand that Politico immediately correct or retract these publications, issue a prominent and public apology to the President of the United States and to Ms. Wiles, and remove the false reporting from your digital archives."
- Otherwise, he wrote, the White House would conduct an "immediate review of Politico's relationship with the White House, and, of course, consideration of all other appropriate and available legal remedies."
- A Politico spokesperson did not return a message seeking comment.
- White House officials fault the new management at Politico for pushing its reporters to engage in what Scharf called "gossip-peddling."
- The letter was addressed to global editor in chief Jonathan Greenberger.
Zoom out: Trump has had an ongoing love-hate relationship with the press. He is available to reporters for far more question-and-answer sessions than any recent president, but he's quick to anger and threaten press bans for coverage he doesn't like.
- Early in his second term, Trump banned the Associated Press from the Oval Office and Air Force One access after it balked at calling the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. A federal judge reinstated AP's access months later.
- The New York Times reported this week that Trump has mused about removing the press entirely from the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room and building a swimming pool there.
What's next: Scharf would not specify what consequences Politico faces, but a White House official said "all options are on the table" and described Trump's counsel as "uncharacteristically enraged."
- Trump is highly litigious with media organizations and, advisers say, his appetite for launching lawsuits hasn't diminished.
- Some advisers outside of the Trump White House noticed that administration officials may be telegraphing another avenue to attack Politico as a malign foreign influence because it's owned by a German company, Axel Springer.
- "Politico is a foreign-op designed to interfere in American politics and meddle in our elections with disinformation and misinformation," White House Communications Director Steven Cheung wrote on X Saturday.
