Politics
Major Liberal Outlet Sued By Former Trump Official
Sean Spicer’s attorney is demanding that Mediaite retract an article and apologize for what they describe as a “highly defamatory” story about Puck News Senior Political Correspondent Tara Palmeri, as first reported by the Daily Caller.
The outlet reviewed a letter sent by Spicer’s lawyer to Aidan McLaughlin, the Editor in Chief of Mediaite, on Tuesday. The contentious article, titled “Scoop Machine Tara Palmeri on How She Gets The Story (And Stays Sane),” alleges that Spicer, during his tenure as White House Press Secretary, denied Palmeri a press badge. Palmeri was a Politico journalist at the time.
Mediaite reported:
Palmeri, who served previously as a White House correspondent for ABC News and a co-author of Politico Playbook, has faced backlash in the past for, as she puts it, “merely reporting facts.”
During then-President Donald Trump’s first term, Palmeri angered then-press secretary Sean Spicer with her coverage of the White House. Spicer refused to give her a press badge – which Palmeri said forced her to find creative ways to cover the administration.
“I couldn’t get a press credential when Spicer was the press secretary,” she recalled. “So I just had to report from the outside, from the outer circle and get in. I was breaking big stories, though it turns out you don’t need to be sitting in the briefing room every day asking questions in front of a camera and get everyone getting those stories, which I think are very important. But for me, I was actually adding more value on the outside and I think Spicer knew it and he just didn’t know how to control it. So he thought, I’ll punish her.”
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer addresses the press during the daily briefing, Friday, May 12, 2017.
Spicer’s lawyer wrote, “Mediaite certainly knew that had Mr. Spicer or anyone in the Trump administration denied press credentials to a Politico reporter covering the White House like Ms. Palmeri it would have been a major, widely reported story with public comments and reporting from Politico, the White House Correspondents Association, and other major news organizations; this would not be a secret disclosed for the first time years later by Ms. Palmeri in a promotional interview. Thus, under the circumstances, the claim was [factually] implausible. In addition, it is a matter of public record that Ms. Palmeri had press credentials during her time covering the White House.”
View this post on Instagram
“During his tenure as White House press secretary, Mr. Spicer made it a point of professional pride to approve all applications for press credentials. There is not a single instance in which he denied a day, week, or hard pass for a journalist seeking to cover the White House. In publishing Ms. Palmeri’s false claim otherwise, Mediaite failed to adhere to basic journalistic standards prior to publication,” the letter continued. “It did not seek comment from Mr. Spicer or Politico or include any of the publicly available facts contradicting Ms. Palmeri’s fictitious claim. This has caused Mr. Spicer serious damage to his professional and personal reputation. We demand that the story be retracted and that Mediaite make a public announcement of the reason for the retraction and an apology to Mr. Spicer.”
The Daily Caller reached out to Mediaite for a response to the letter sent by Spicer’s attorney. Editor in Chief Aidan McLaughlin replied, “It’s not much of a letter. We got a PR statement from an attorney for Sean Spicer. We stand by the story.”
Spicer served as the White House Press Secretary under President Donald Trump from January to July 2017. Known for his contentious relationship with the media, Spicer’s tenure was marked by several high-profile controversies regarding the accuracy of his statements during press briefings. Prior to his role in the Trump administration, Spicer had a long career in Republican Party communications and strategy, working for the Republican National Committee and other related organizations.
(VOTE: Should JD Vance Run For President In 2028?)
