White House called out for letter to media urging 'scrutiny' on Biden impeachment inquiry: 'Outrageous'

Letter feels like 'explicit instructions' on how to cover administration, one critic argues

The White House was forcefully criticized after they sent a letter calling on the media to increase "scrutiny" of House Republicans and their impeachment inquiry into President Biden.

Ian Sams, a Special Assistant to the President and spokesperson for the White House Counsel’s office, wrote the letter. 

The White House urged media outlets to "ramp up [their] scrutiny" of House Republicans for opening an impeachment inquiry of Biden in a sharp message to news organizations on Wednesday. 

Republican Iowa Rep. Ashley Hinson called the letter "outrageous."

President Joe Biden arrives to board Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, on August 15, 2023. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

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"Has the White House gotten so bold that they are brazenly telling the media to predetermine their coverage?" she wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. "As a former reporter, this is outrageous. Republicans will follow the facts wherever they will lead. And the media should report the facts without bias."

Jonathan Turley, a FOX News legal analyst and George Washington University law professor, wrote that the Biden White House's letter had an "uncomfortable feeling of marching orders to the media."

"It is a call for media to tailor the coverage to push the position of the White House against this effort to ramp up the investigation into corruption. It is an approach that is already embraced by many in the media," he wrote.

"The White House is now calling for the media to again form the wagons around the President and attack the impeachment effort as it did the laptop and the corruption investigation," Turley continued. 

Ian Sams, special assistant to the president and spokesperson for the White House Counsel's Office, speaks to members of the media outside the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Turley added that the most concerning part of the letter was there was no concern over "making such an open pitch to the press."

"If this doesn’t demonstrate the contempt the White House and Democrats have for transparency and an honest press, I don’t know what does," North Carolina Rep. Greg Murphy wrote. 

Indiana Rep. Rudy Yakym said the White House's move was "brazen."

"We know the media was going to run interference on trying to cover up for this president anyway. You just don’t expect the White House to be this brazen in admitting their collusion. Meanwhile, @HouseGOP will follow the facts wherever they lead," he said.

Others noted that the move was "not okay," and equated it to "communist bs."

GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced a formal impeachment inquiry into Biden on Tuesday and House Republicans "uncovered serious and credible allegations into President Biden's conduct."

"Today, I am directing our House committees to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe," McCarthy announced in a statement at the Capitol Tuesday. "This logical next step will give our committees the full power to gather all the facts and answers for the American public." 

Several people on X referred to the move as some kind of "marching orders" 

Other members of Congress called out the letter as well, as Republican Virginia Rep. Bob Good described it as an "unseen" level of collusion between the media and Biden. 

The White House didn't return a request for comment.