The White House ordered the Washington Post to stop reporting on President Trump’s business and says it is “building up a very large ‘dossier'” on Post reporter David Fahrenthold. That information was included in a response by White House spokesperson Judd Deere to a request for comment on an article that shows the U.S. Secret Service has spent more than $900,000 at Trump properties during Trump’s presidency.
“The Washington Post is blatantly interfering with the business relationships of the Trump Organization, and it must stop,” Deere told the Post in a statement that continued with a sentence likely to make grammar cops’ heads explode. “Please be advised that we are building up a very large ‘dossier’ on the many false David Fahrenthold and others stories as they are a disgrace to journalism and the American people.”
The Washington Post tells Washingtonian that it doesn’t have any comment.
Fahrenthold has reported on Trump family’s business interests for several years now, but perhaps his best-known article about the President was his 2016 scoop about Access Hollywood tapes, which showed the future President describing how he felt stardom gave him permission to assault women. On Twitter, Fahrenthold said that that if anyone has concerns about his reporting, no dossier is necessary:
BTW, if you think the Washington Post got something wrong in a story, we want to know about it! Doesn't have to be in dossier form, and you don't have to be the president. We listen to everybody. https://t.co/suUhRZf5zD https://t.co/JmaEkWRjd7
— David Fahrenthold (@Fahrenthold) August 27, 2020
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
