Trump White House struggles with questions about transparency
Trump White House struggles with questions about transparency
04/18/17 08:00 AM By Steve Benen
During Barack Obama’s presidency, Donald Trump whined incessantly about transparency, calling the Democrat, among other things, “the least transparent president ever.” Trump asked in 2012, “Why does Obama believe he shouldn’t comply with record releases that his predecessors did of their own volition? Hiding something?”
Soon after, the Republican added, “Obama thinks he can just laugh off the fact that he refuses to release his records to the American public. He can’t.”
At the time, Trump’s preoccupation with transparency had a rather specific focus: Trump, championing a racist conspiracy theory, called for the disclosure of “records” such as Obama’s college transcripts.
Now that Trump is himself the president, the Republican has adopted a dramatically different posture. The New York Times reported:
White House officials on Monday mustered a sweeping defense of their less-is-more public disclosure practices, arguing that releasing information on a wide array of topics would strike a blow against personal privacy and impede President Trump’s ability to govern. […]
Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, facing a barrage of questions about the president’s commitment to transparency, repeatedly shut down reporters’ queries – from the identity of Mr. Trump’s weekend golf partners to his refusal to release his 2016 tax returns. Mr. Spicer said that greater public disclosure was unnecessary, intrusive or even harmful.
READ MORE: http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/tr...
04/18/17 08:00 AM By Steve Benen
During Barack Obama’s presidency, Donald Trump whined incessantly about transparency, calling the Democrat, among other things, “the least transparent president ever.” Trump asked in 2012, “Why does Obama believe he shouldn’t comply with record releases that his predecessors did of their own volition? Hiding something?”
Soon after, the Republican added, “Obama thinks he can just laugh off the fact that he refuses to release his records to the American public. He can’t.”
At the time, Trump’s preoccupation with transparency had a rather specific focus: Trump, championing a racist conspiracy theory, called for the disclosure of “records” such as Obama’s college transcripts.
Now that Trump is himself the president, the Republican has adopted a dramatically different posture. The New York Times reported:
White House officials on Monday mustered a sweeping defense of their less-is-more public disclosure practices, arguing that releasing information on a wide array of topics would strike a blow against personal privacy and impede President Trump’s ability to govern. […]
Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, facing a barrage of questions about the president’s commitment to transparency, repeatedly shut down reporters’ queries – from the identity of Mr. Trump’s weekend golf partners to his refusal to release his 2016 tax returns. Mr. Spicer said that greater public disclosure was unnecessary, intrusive or even harmful.
READ MORE: http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/tr...
