THIS IS WILD: JD Vance was reportedly the actual anonymous source behind the very story the White House is now using in court to justify banning Politico.
According to Oliver Darcy’s Status and the Washington Post, the White House cited six Politico stories in a Tuesday court letter, accusing the outlet of publishing reporting that “threatened national security and/or spread falsehoods.”
One of those stories was a June report on Iran negotiations, quoting a “senior administration official” who estimated the odds of reaching a preliminary deal at 80 to 85 percent.
Here’s the part that makes this fall apart entirely.
That quote didn’t come from a leak. It came from an official White House press call, one the administration itself set up, with ground rules explicitly allowing journalists to quote the speaker as a “senior administration official.”
A White House aide can be heard on a recording laying out those exact terms before the call even began.
“By remaining on the line, you agree to those terms,” the aide said. “There is no embargo for the contents of the call.”
Now Status has identified that anonymous senior administration official as Vance himself.
Read that again. The White House authorized the call, set the ground rules, let Vance speak on background, and is now suing to justify banning an outlet for simply following the rules the administration itself created.
And Politico wasn’t even alone in reporting it. The Associated Press, Bloomberg, and CNBC all covered the same briefing with the same anonymous quote. None of those outlets were banned.
This is now sitting in an active federal court filing, as part of the government’s own defense of the ban Politico is suing to overturn.
The administration’s justification is falling apart under its own paperwork.
