Want to Know Who’s Making Trips to the White House? Now You May Have to Wait Until 2030 to Find Out.
Trump Administration Now Claiming ‘Grave National Security Risks’
Unlike President Barack Obama who voluntarily made White House visitor logs public, the Trump administration is refusing to release that information. Citing “grave national security risks and privacy concerns of the hundreds of thousands of visitors annually,” White House communications director Michael Dubke made the announcement Friday.
The earliest anyone can even request to view the Trump administration’s logs will be five years after Trump leaves office, according to TIME magazine. Should he serve two full terms, that would be January, 2030.
The Trump administration is choosing to view White House visitor logs as “presidential records,†not subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Even before becoming a presidential candidate, as many on Twitter just noted, Donald Trump frequently attacked President Obama for not releasing records – most likely, though, his college records…
.@BarackObama should release all his records (like other Presidents)….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 13, 2012
Why is @BarackObama spending millions to try and hide his records? He is the least transparent President–ever–and he ran on transparency.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2012
A lot of undecided and independent voters have had enough with Obama’s lack of transparency. I don’t blame them.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 31, 2012
My offer to Obama is about transparency. In 2008, American people were sold on hope and change. This our last chance to get the full record.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 24, 2012
UPDATE:
ACLU responds:
Statement from @ACLU on Trump White House’s decision to keep its visitor logs secret pic.twitter.com/6XYzDxJoqr
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) April 14, 2017
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Image by Pierre-Selim via Flickr and a CC license
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