AP Photo/Evan Vucci
A 16-year veteran reporter at the New York Post was suspended from the newspaper this week after he accused editor-in-chief Keith Poole of killing his story about one of President Donald Trump’s nominees.
Reporter Josh Kosman was reportedly pursuing a story on Trump’s nominee to lead the Drug Enforcement Agency, Terry Cole, when he was informed his article had been “spiked” by Poole, according to the Breaker newsletter.
After his article kept getting delayed for publication, Kosman reportedly received an email from the New York Post’s political editor saying, “There’s no good way to say this, so I’ll just say it: KP [Keith Poole] spiked the story.”
The email continued, “I sent him the most recent copy and his response was ‘Nope. Not running this’ in a way that made clear there was no changing his mind… I’m very sorry. I thought we had the story… but sometimes decisions are made above my pay grade.”
Just two weeks later, Kosman
Kosman was then suspended from the newspaper with pay on Tuesday after Breaker reached out to the Post for comment.
“Unfortunately when Keith takes actions like this you are catching and killing a story,” Kosman told Breaker. “Then two weeks later you’re telling me to get out. I certainly interpreted it as retaliation. The timing struck me as not coincidental.”
A spokesperson for the New York Post denied Kosman’s claims in a statement to Breaker.
“The allegations of ‘catch and kill’ and retaliation against Josh Kosman are absolutely, categorically untrue,” the spokesperson said. “Beyond that, we do not comment on personnel matters.”
Kosman’s story reportedly covered the “chequered past” of Trump’s DEA nominee and was based on a tip from within the agency.
Several former DEA officials expressed concern over Trump’s decision to nominate Cole to head the agency, pointing to his alleged association with “a botched operation by a US-vetted Colombian police squad that left 10 local officers dead, and a cartel’s brutal retaliation in a small Mexican town that killed dozens,” according to CNN.
Earlier this month, Trump praised Poole’s work
“I highly recommend Keith Poole, who is the very successful Editor-in-Chief of the New York Post, to take over the entire operation of the highly inaccurate, ‘China Centric,’ Wall Street Journal,” wrote Trump. “It’s an easy move for Rupert, and he’ll love the results.”