The White House has demanded that Politico retract and apologize for a trio of articles it wrote about President Donald Trump and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, in the administration’s latest clash with the press.
In a letter from Counsel to the President William Scharf to Politico’s Global Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Greenberger dated Monday, the outlet is accused of publishing “a series of demonstrably false and defamatory articles in an apparent effort to manufacture a narrative of dysfunction and infighting in the White House” while ignoring denials from senior officials and Trump himself.
“Your publication was told the truth and presented with corroborating evidence, and yet chose to publish fanciful fictions regardless,” Scharf alleged. “I... demand that Politico retract these defamatory articles and issue corrections promptly, or face the consequences.”
The first of the three stories to which the counsel objected was published in Politico Playbook on October 15 and headlined, “Trump’s ice maiden is under fire.” It suggested the president was seeking to replace Wiles, his former campaign manager, and was later rejected by Trump himself as “fake news.”
The second, published in Playbook a day later, said that the first story had caused “a freakout” in the West Wing and that Trump “blew up” over it. A White House spokesman dismissed it as “unbelievably stupid and false.”
The third, from October 17, suggested that Wiles had set up now-former White House press secretary Katie Zacharia’s disastrous interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News last week. The network denied that Wiles had been involved and Politico has already corrected its story.
An opening note reads: “CORRECTION: An earlier version of this report, including its headline, 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. POLITICO’s follow-up reporting indicates she did not play a direct role in setting up the interview.”
Scharf concludes his letter by warning the outlet that “freedom of the press is not a professional exemption from accountability,” requests a “public apology” to both Trump and Wiles and otherwise threatens that its relationship with the White House will be “reviewed” and that other “appropriate and available legal remedies” may be pursued.
Reached for comment by The Independent, Politico shared the reply its attorneys sent to Scharf Wednesday in which they said the outlet “categorically rejects the false claims in your letter.”
It argued that the counsel “largely ignores the actual substance of Politico’s reporting that you purport to criticize” and accused the White House of continuing “its pattern of unconstitutional conduct targeting Politico,” which it labelled “a profound affront to the most fundamental constitutional rights.”
The letter concluded: “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.”
The outlet, along with CNN and MS NOW, was previously “banned” from the White House grounds in September, only for U.S. District Judge Tim Kelly to rule subsequently their access must be reinstated as its removal was likely unconstitutional.
The White House duly did so but Politico was then barred from boarding Air Force One earlier this month.
Trump has a long history of feuding with journalists and this week lashed out at The Independent’s own Andrew Feinberg in the Oval Office.
“I don’t know who the hell you are, but you better be careful,” the president warned the correspondent after taking exception to a question about government fraud whistleblowers.
He subsequently called him a “sick person” and declared: “I actually think there’s something wrong with you.”
The veteran journalist was then removed from the traveling press pool joining the president en route to Iowa Thursday with little notice.
He also attacked CNN’s Kaitlin Collins again Wednesday, calling her “a low-IQ person” and a “dummy” when she raised his decision to waive sanctions on Russia, also asking another reporter from ABC News whose question he did not care for: “Are you a stupid person?”
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