Donald Trump is making sure that the public will not be able to see the influence that special interests and big money donors a.k.a. the swamp is having on his White House by announcing that his administration will not make White House visitor logs public.
The Washington Post reported:
The Trump administration announced Friday that it would discontinue former president Barack Obama’s policy of voluntarily disclosing the names of most visitors to the White House complex, citing “grave national security risks and privacy concerns.â€
Instead, the Trump administration said it would only release information under far more limited circumstances: for those visiting components of the White House classified under the law as separate agencies, such as the Office of Management and Budget. Under the new policy, it will be up to the White House to decide whether to release names of visitors coming to meet with the president, vice president and their senior staff.
The White House visitor log website went dark after Trump took office and a coalition of transparency advocates have sued the Trump administration to force them to publicly release the logs.
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It is a bad move for a president who is already under federal investigation for potentially colluding with Russia during the presidential election to decrease transparency and not disclose who is visiting the White House. At a more basic level, the decision to keep the visitor logs private is a reminder that Trump’s promise to clean up Washington as an outsider was a lie.
Voters who supported Donald Trump were voting for the swamp, not someone who would drain it.
The only way that transparency will ever exist in this administration is if Trump is forced to be transparent by a judge.
Presidents who have nothing to hide don’t keep visitor logs secret.
Instead of draining the swamp, Trump is trying to keep his secrets hidden by building a wall around it.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
