White House demands Politico retract 'demonstrably false' articles or face consequences

The White House is demanding that Politico retracts articles about conflicts among White House staff, issue an apology to President Donald Trump and remove the story from its archives. 

In a letter sent Monday from William O. Scharf, counsel to the president, to Jonathan Green, Politico's global editor-in-chief, Scharf refers to a series of articles published last week in Politico about White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. 

The outlet reported on Oct. 15 that Trump was considering replacing Wiles, and on Oct. 16, Politico Playbook claimed the previous day's story "caused a 'freakout'" and made the president "blow up." 

Then, on Oct. 16, Politico ran another story claiming that Wiles intentionally set up former White House press secretary Katie Zacharia for humiliation on Sean Hannity's Fox News show. 

Scharf's letter describes the stories as "demonstrably false and defamatory" and alleges the articles were run to "manufacture a narrative of dysfunction and infighting at the White House. Scharf goes on to provide details on why the White House believes Politico is engaging in an effort to "advance its selected and selective narrative" with no regard for the truth. 

Scharf gives Politico 48 hours to retract the articles and issue apologies to Trump and Wiles. A failure to do so, Scharf warns, will result in "an immediate review of Politico’s relationship with the White House" and consideration of "appropriate and available legal remedies."