Vice President JD Vance was the unnamed “senior administration official” behind one of the stories the White House used to justify banning Politico from its grounds.
The anonymous source cited in a June 2026 story about the probability of a successful Iran peace deal, which was one of the six stories the Trump administration singled out as having “threatened national security and/or spread falsehoods,” was Vance, Status revealed on Wednesday.
In a letter the Trump administration sent to Politico, made public through a government court filing, the story was included as one of the six “reporting incidents” that violated the White House’s “expectations.”
“In June 2026, Politico cited a ‘senior administration official … granted anonymity’ said the odds of a preliminary deal to end the conflict with Iran were between 80 and 85 percent,” the letter said.
“Publication of sensitive security information, and misinformation about national security information, diverts White House resources and those of the national security team in particular,” the letter continued. “The spread of misinformation, especially relating to national security, is a threat that undermines the President’s ability to safeguard the national security.”
Vance had spoken to reporters from several outlets about the Iran deal talks, Status reported, explaining that the outlets had agreed to grant the vice president anonymity in exchange for the information.
The Washington Post also reported that a press call hosted by the White House was one of the sources the White House cited in explaining its ban on Politico. Reporters on the call were told at the start: “The contents of this call are on background, attributable to a senior administration official. By remaining on the line, you agree to those terms,” according to the Post.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
The vice president, 42, told reporters on Monday that he supported the White House’s decision to ban the outlet, saying that the decision was “totally appropriate.”
“If you actually look at the objective analysis,” Vance said, “Politico is as anti-Trump as Breitbart was anti-Obama or anti-Biden.”
“They can still report on the Trump White House,” he added. “They can still get the public reports. They can still, of course, talk to people in the administration and outside the administration.”
Politico, along with the other two banned outlets, CNN and MS NOW, filed a federal lawsuit against the White House on Monday, arguing that the Trump administration’s treatment of their organizations violated their First Amendment rights.
“Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists’ credentials because it objected to our reporting,” the news outlets said. “Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference.”
Trump-appointed federal Judge Timothy J. Kelly, who is presiding over the case, heard arguments at an emergency hearing on Wednesday.
Though he did not issue an immediate ruling, he said during the hearing that legal precedent “wasn’t followed here,” in reference to the White House’s conduct.
