No Wonder Trump Banned Them – Oblivious Politico Thinks Jewish Wedding Tradition May Be Trump Admin Bribery Scheme

At least for the moment, Politico is banned from the White House, thanks to President Donald Trump deeming the outlet “FAKE NEWS!” in a post on Friday. More’s the pity.

Politico, along with CNN and MS NOW, are suing to get their White House reportage rights back, and considering the judge the case has been assigned to — the same one who restored Jim Acosta’s White House credentials when he was with CNN during the first Trump administration — the odds are pretty good they’ll be back at 1600 Pennsylvania sooner rather than later.

However, with the break from Downtown D.C.’s most obvious establishment, you’d think that the outlet would have a bit more time to focus on researching other things. Say, Jewish and/or Israeli wedding traditions.

But no, not so much. On Monday, the outlet had a “scoop” in its Playbook newsletter that “[a]n influential and controversial senior adviser to U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee solicited cash gifts from Israeli citizens to celebrate his upcoming wedding,” hyping it as a bribery scandal at the highest levels.

From the newsletter:

David Milstein, who holds a top-secret security clearance, sent a Paperless Post wedding invitation on Sept. 16 soliciting “monetary wedding gift[s]” in either “U.S. dollars or Israeli shekels” along with a QR code, according to screenshots of the solicitation reviewed by Playbook.

On Saturday, hours after Playbook asked Milstein whether he had State Department and White House approval for the solicitation, Milstein sent out a revised note to invitees: “Unfortunately, our /message intended only to respond to requests from family and close family friends who had asked us if we had a gift registry was unintentionally sent to the broader guest list. Please know we cannot accept gifts of any kind.” (Playbook also reviewed that message.)

It’s unclear whether any monetary gifts changed hands in the days between the invitation and Saturday, when Milstein says he took down the codes.

This, according to an anonymous “member of the intelligence community” (per Politico), represented “a giant walking counterintelligence red flag” (the member’s words).

“The fact that he is blatantly soliciting donations is absolutely jaw dropping,” the unidentified individual added.

Yeah, if you have an animus against Huckabee, the administration, Israel, and/or Milstein it might be — and really, there’s so much overlap these days it’s hard to tell what the cause is. If you knew anything about Israeli culture, or searched it up for five minutes, not so much.

For instance, here’s the CEO of the Republican Jewish Coalition, Matt Brooks, saying that reporting this as a solicitation for money is “unethical and absurd.”

“I am invited to the wedding and also got the note about gifts- it’s exactly like a got [sic] for every wedding I’ve been to over the last ten years. Shame. This is gotcha journalism,” he wrote on X.

This is an outrageous attack against a true mensch, @davidamilstein – and on Yom Kippur, no less. The idea that David, who is one of the most decent and honorable people I know, would engage in something unethical and absurd. I am invited to the wedding and also got the note… https://t.co/8hgINzlHlT

— Matt Brooks (@mbrooksrjc) September 21, 2026

In fact, there places you can find out about Israeli weddings. Such as, quite literally, a site called The Israeli Wedding, which has “5 Unique Israeli Wedding Traditions” right on the navigation bar. First tradition:

One thing you definitely won’t see at an Israeli wedding is a table full of boxed gifts. You can also strike off wedding registries at department stores. The standard gift to give at a wedding in Israel is cold, hard cash.

This could mean literally sticking bills in an envelope (just make sure to write your name on it so the couple knows who it’s from) or a check. At every wedding in Israel, near the entrance where the guests receive their table cards, you’ll see a locked box for cash gifts.

The idea is that the couple can use the money to recoup their expenses for the wedding, making it a financially neutral transaction, and hopefully break even.

Other than that, though…

This was treated as a major scandal by Politico, however, which talked to numerous intelligence community or former intelligence community members who were, of course, anonymous and, of course, said that this was explosive news.

One source told Politico such a scandal could “could ultimately lead to a loss of clearance or termination.”

“If this was any other employee at this point, he would have his clearance suspended,” the source added.

The reason Milstein is not “any other employee,” Politico intimated, is that critics are afraid of Milstein: “Because of his stepdad: conservative radio host and Fox News personality Mark Levin, who is close with President Donald Trump, and whose name Milstein frequently drops to protect himself, according to the people.”

Politico noted, however, that Milstein “hasn’t been accused of a crime or inappropriately accessing intelligence materials,” which seems like it should be a bigger deal in this report than it is.

It’s a tradition, not a scoop, and a sign that Politico is so desperate for news that it’s literally making this guy’s wedding gifts into a counterintelligence story because its reporters are not up on Jewish and/or Israeli weddings.

Imagine the outcry if a news outlet did this about a Muslim wedding tradition. Not only would the people involved be banned from covering the administration, they’d basically be blackballed from journalism. It’s weird how this conflation of a Jewish wedding tradition and bribery is totally cool with this one particular religion, especially involving someone who’s involved in one particular country.

In short, Politico et al might be able to force their way back into the White House.  Reports like this aren’t going to make it any easier with the administration, though.

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