White House counsel reportedly sends Politico a letter demanding three stories be retracted within 48 hours, or face unspecified consequences

The White House counsel’s office has given Politico a short deadline to fix or pull back recent articles, according to Axios. In a letter sent Monday, the office said the outlet had 48 hours to retract or correct stories about claimed staff drama. Failure to do so would bring unspecified consequences. That window closes Thursday.

The move adds pressure to an already difficult relationship between the administration and Politico. Access limits already affect Politico along with CNN and MS NOW. Those three outlets cannot cover the president inside the Oval Office or aboard Air Force One because he dislikes their reporting. Trump had also kept them off White House grounds until a judge restored that access on October 13.

CNN announced Wednesday that it plans legal steps to regain spots on Air Force One and in the rotating pool of networks that travel with the president. Politico has not responded to a request for comment on the letter.

The letter highlights three specific stories involving Susie Wiles

White House Counsel Will Scharf wrote the letter to Jonathan Greenberger, Politico’s global editor-in-chief. He pointed to three pieces about Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. Scharf said the stories ran even after senior staff and the president offered on-the-record denials or contrary information.

One story appeared on October 15 under the headline “Trump’s ice maiden is under fire.” It claimed Trump was looking at possible replacements for Wiles. The president labeled the piece “fake news.”

The next day, October 16, Politico Playbook said the earlier report triggered a “freakout” and that the president “blew up.” A White House spokesman rejected the account as “unbelievably stupid and false.”

Also on October 16, Politico ran a story titled “Susie Wiles helped set up Fox interview ahead of press secretary’s exit.” The piece implied Wiles arranged for Katie Zacharia to struggle in a Sean Hannity interview on Fox the previous night. Both the White House and Fox News disputed the claim. Officials sent Politico text messages before publication that showed Zacharia herself arranged the interview. The New York Post reported the same detail the following day.

Scharf noted that Politico has neither corrected nor retracted the reporting. He said a Politico reporter confirmed the outlet kept Wiles in the story because she served as the “hook.” Scharf called that choice “a legally fraught and alarming admission to say the least.”

Scharf wrote, “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.” He warned that without those steps the White House would begin an “immediate review of Politico’s relationship with the White House, and, of course, consideration of all other appropriate and available legal remedies.”

Officials have blamed Politico’s newer leadership for encouraging what Scharf termed “gossip-peddling.” Scharf declined to detail possible consequences. One White House official said “all options are on the table” and called the counsel “uncharacteristically enraged.”

The president maintains a complicated dynamic with reporters. He holds more question sessions than recent predecessors yet has threatened access bans over coverage he opposes. 

Early in the second term, he barred the Associated Press from the Oval Office and Air Force One after the outlet refused to adopt the name Gulf of America for the Gulf of Mexico. A federal judge later restored the AP’s access.

The New York Times reported this week that Trump has talked about clearing reporters from the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room to install a swimming pool. He has filed numerous lawsuits against media companies, and advisers say that pattern continues. 

Some outside advisers have noted that officials may be opening another line of criticism by highlighting Politico’s ownership by the German firm Axel Springer. White House Communications Director Steven Cheung posted on X Saturday, “Politico is a foreign-op designed to interfere in American politics and meddle in our elections with disinformation and misinformation.”