Posted on 02/04/2021 9:33:10 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The Biden White House said it cannot make the Trump White House’s visitor logs public because it lacks access to the records, which were subject to numerous legal battles and former President Donald Trump sought to keep private.
“We cannot,” press secretary Jen Psaki said on Wednesday, stating that the records fall “under the purview of the National Archives.”
Access to the Trump White House’s visitor logs ended shortly after Trump took office, shielding details of the White House’s day-to-day business from public view.
At the time, the White House framed the matter as one of national security.
Withholding the logs limits public knowledge of who visits the complex, shielding from view activists, lobbyists, or political donors who may be influencing the president or his advisers.
Psaki said the Biden administration plans to release the logs quarterly, “just as the Obama-Biden administration did.”
The Obama administration voluntarily released most records after initially refusing, with exceptions for the identities of the then-president’s daughters’ friends or visitors attending national security or intelligence meetings.
While the White House is not subject to public disclosure through the Freedom of Information Act, transparency groups criticized Trump for his policy and sued his administration for access.
A decision last year by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Trump policy and ruled to keep the names of visitors hidden for a minimum of five years from his last day in office.
A court ruled in Judicial Watch v. U.S. Secret Service in 2013 that the White House could keep logs secret.
Then-District Judge Merrick Garland, a Clinton nominee, stated in part that allowing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for the logs “could substantially affect the president’s ability to meet confidentially with foreign leaders, agency officials, or members of the public.”
A woman challenged the Trump administration’s shielding of logs in 2017 after her FOIA request was denied. An appeals court upheld the 2013 decision.
“We conclude that the visitor logs that the plaintiffs seek are not agency 2 records subject to FOIA and that the plaintiffs failed to state a claim under” the Presidential Records Act and the Federal Records Act, the judges wrote.
The ruling came after the administration settled a separate suit, agreeing to publish some logs. Those included visitors to the White House Office of Management and Budget.
Psaki’s assertion that the Biden administration doesn’t have access to the logs came a day after she said she hadn’t had a chance to talk with team members about whether they had access.
“I mean, we obviously know what information is put in from visits—people who come to visit, and we have the ability to release that over the coming months. I’m not aware of an assessment of that, but I will also ask our team if we have access to them or if there’s a plan to look at them,” she said.
“But now I think I’ll say we should. It’s our house. If spies, hit men, etc., are visiting we have every right to know.”
President Trump, other presidents should keep the White House visitor logs private as both they and the right to privacy.
Typical of the fluff nonsense that was accepted from the Obama Administration (including this upcoming third term).
“Not everyone was logged.”
George Clooney even bragged about it, that he was not on the logs. These clowns have their own set of rules.
Psaki said the Biden administration plans to release the logs quarterly, “just as the Obama-Biden administration did.”
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