Trump Claims Transparency as President
President Donald Trump asserts that he is “the most transparent president” in U.S. history, and some statistics seem to support his claim.
A memo has surfaced that details Trump’s engagement with the media during his second term, revealing that he has taken part in a remarkable 759 press events.
These gatherings totaled about 21,058 minutes or roughly 351 hours. It’s noteworthy that Trump allowed the press significant opportunity to ask him questions, doing so at 474 of these events.
This interaction amounted to an impressive 12,178 minutes, which translates to around 203 hours, or, equivalently, eight-and-a-half days.
The access he has granted to his administration and his policy insights reportedly far exceeds what previous presidents have offered, including his successor, Joe Biden.
In contrast, Biden has been known for rarely engaging with the media or taking questions, and he faced little opposition from a media landscape that generally favored him—up until the backlash following a poorly received debate in June 2024.
When Biden did field questions, he often relied on a pre-approved list of reporters, along with details about how to pronounce their names and summaries of their inquiries.
A fact sheet from the White House highlighted that during the initial 100 days of Trump’s second term, 92% of coverage by mainstream outlets was negative, as opposed to nearly 60% positive coverage for Biden in a similar timeframe.
Notably, CNN, MS NOW, and Politico, who had previously supported Biden, found themselves banned from the White House after Trump revoked their hard passes last week.
Many other media outlets, spanning various ideological perspectives, also lack access to White House grounds, which hasn’t been described by the traditional media as a First Amendment infringement.
However, the aforementioned outlets have now filed a lawsuit seeking to regain their access, arguing that they deserve special treatment compared to others and claiming Trump is violating press freedoms.
Vice President JD Vance countered their position, explaining, “They can still report on the Trump White House. They can still get the public reports. They can still, of course, talk to people in the administration and outside the administration. What the president has said is, we’re not going to give you special access inside the White House.”
Vance also noted that there was little complaint from the media when Breitbart News was similarly excluded from special access in previous administrations.
In a show of solidarity, other networks like Fox News declared they wouldn’t cover Trump’s comments or utilize their equipment, calling into question their commitment to transparency.
The memo revealing the press events includes details about speeches, gaggles, press conferences, and interactions while boarding or disembarking from Air Force One or Marine One.
