EXCLUSIVE: Sean Spicer Demands Media Outlet Retract Story, Threatens To Sue

Sean: (Photo by John Lamparski:Getty Images) Tara: (Photo by Gary Gershoff:Getty Images for Housing Works)

Former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s lawyer is calling on Mediaite to retract a story and issue an apology regarding a piece about Puck News Senior Political Correspondent Tara Palmeri. Spicer’s lawyer is calling it “highly defamatory,” the Daily Caller has first learned

The Caller obtained a copy of the letter Spicer’s lawyer sent Tuesday to Aidan McLaughlin, the Editor in Chief of Mediaite. In the letter, he mentions the piece, titled “Scoop Machine Tara Palmeri on How She Gets The Story (And Stays Sane),” which states that Spicer refused to give her a press badge when he served in the White House. Palmeri previously worked at Politico during Spicer’s time as White House Press Secretary.

“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,” Spicer’s lawyer wrote in the letter.

The letter also says there are dozens of pictures of Palmeri inside the White House where credentials were required during his time as White House Press Secretary, including a picture of her media credentials around her neck.

A post shared by Tara Palmeri (@tarapalmeri)

“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 states.

READ THE LETTER HERE:

(DAILY CALLER OBTAINED) — … by Henry Rodgers

“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 letter continues.

The Caller contacted Mediaite for comment regarding the letter from Spicer’s lawyer, to which McLaughlin responded by saying: “It’s not much of a letter. We got a PR statement from an attorney for Sean Spicer. We stand by the story.”

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