White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles listens to President Donald Trump speaking during a campaign rally at F&M Bank Arena in Clarksville, Tennessee, on Oct. 10, 2026. (Mandel Ngan – AFP / Getty Images)
By V. Saxena October 22, 2026 at 7:45am
The White House counsel’s office has threatened Politico with “consequences” if the outlet does not retract three of its recent “defamatory” reports about President Donald Trump and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
Published on Oct. 15, the original Politico report that set off this firestorm alleged that the president was growing frustrated with Wiles and asking his advisers whether he should replace her.
A second report on Oct. 16 alleged that the president experienced a “freakout” and “blew up” over Politico’s original story.
In the final report, published later on Oct. 16, Politico suggested that Wiles had played a role in getting former White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia fired by encouraging her to be interviewed by Fox News host Sean Hannity.
All three reports were false, White House counsel William Scharf asserted in a letter sent on Monday, Oct. 19, to Politico’s global editor-in-chief, Jonathan Greenberger.
“Politico’s conduct raises serious questions about its adherence to the most basic standards of ethics, journalistic integrity, and the standards of professionalism expected of serious news publications,” Scharf wrote.
“This is not a question of competing interpretations, editorial judgment, or political disagreement. It is a question of whether a major news organization may knowingly publish demonstrably false factual allegations, disregard documentary evidence contradicting those allegations, and then hide behind anonymous sources when confronted with the truth.”
“It may not,” Scharf added. “I therefore demand that Politico retract these defamatory articles and issue corrections promptly, or face the consequences.”
He continued his lengthy letter by also demanding an apology. The first Trump administration also routinely demanded apologies from the media.
“Freedom of the press is not a professional exemption from accountability,” Scharf wrote.
“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 added.
Scharf concluded by giving Politico 48 hours to respond or face “an immediate review” of its relationship with the White House.
According to Fox News, Politico responded to the White House on Wednesday with a letter written by its attorney, arguing that the paper “categorically rejects the false accusations” that it “chose to publish fanciful fiction” and “purposeful falsehoods designed to mislead the public.”
“That said, Politico takes seriously assertions like those made in your letter,” the letter continued. “Accordingly, consistent with its commitment to ensuring its reporting is as accurate as possible, Politico re-examined all three articles identified in your letter and did follow up reporting.”
“As a result, Politico determined it was appropriate to correct one of the three articles identified in your letter,” the letter concluded.
Fox News confirmed that Politico did not correct its first two reports or “offer an apology to Trump and Wiles.”
Instead, it updated the final report about Zacharia to say that Wiles had simply offered the former press secretary “positive reinforcement” ahead of her devastating Fox News interview.
OUCH
@politico forced to walk back false story about Susie Wiles after @WhiteHouse brings the receipts
Embarrassig
— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) October 22, 2026
“The updated version of that article, reflecting the information obtained through Politico’s further reporting, has now been published,” Politico’s attorney wrote in his letter to the White House.
Should Politico retract the articles about Trump and Wiles?
“Promptly and transparently making corrections, as Politico has done here, is a hallmark of journalistic ethics and integrity, and of the very professionalism your letter falsely claims Politico is lacking,” he concluded.
After the controversy erupted, former Trump White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who recently announced her departure to spend more time with her young children, slammed Politico in a social media post.
“Politico is the worst outlet in Washington,” she wrote on the social media site X. “They constantly peddle false gossip and malicious lies from clueless anonymous sources to demean the Trump Administration.”
“Much of my time as Press Secretary was spent disproving and killing fake stories they were adamant about writing,” she added. “They may have issued a correction on this one, but the damage has already been done. 100% Fake News.”
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V. Saxena is a seasoned conservative news writer and commentator with a decade of experience in the industry. When not at work, he can be found working out or tending to his popular bird feeder.
