A current adviser and former editor-in-chief of the New York Post reportedly ordered a story about E. Jean Carroll’s sexual-assault allegation against President Trump to be scrubbed from the website, CNN reports. Col Allan, a “longtime lieutenant” of Trump ally Rupert Murdoch and a self-professed Trump fan, reportedly ordered the removal of a story about the allegations off the website. On Friday afternoon, stories about Carroll’s claims written by reporter Joe Tacopino and the Associated Press were scrubbed from the site. Links to the stories then directed site visitors to a 404 page. A spokeswoman for the Post declined to comment but did not dispute CNN’s account of events. She also reportedly did not provide an explanation of why the stories were removed.
The New York Times also addressed concerns that it was not giving enough attention to the story, stating it made the decision because Carroll’s “allegations were already receiving broad attention” and it could not corroborate the claims beyond Carroll and the two friends she had referenced. In “retrospect,” the Times’ executive editor said, Carroll’s accusations against a sitting president “should’ve compelled [the paper] to play it bigger.
In a first-person essay featured in The Cut, Carroll accused the president of sexually assaulting her inside a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the 1990s. In a statement Friday, Trump denied the claim and said he never met Carroll—despite Trump and Carroll being pictured together in the piece.
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