The Biden government will not release virtual records of visitors to the White House, Fox News confirmed, as watchdog organizations are asking President Biden to do so in the name of transparency.
A White House official told Fox News that the government does not plan to disclose the names of participants in the White House virtual meetings – which have become the norm amid the coronavirus pandemic.
FLASHBACK: PSAKI PROMISES ‘TRANSPARENCY’
A White House official also told Politico on Monday that he would not release virtual records.
“Virtual meetings will not be subject to disclosure – in the same way that previous administrations did not disclose telephone records – but we are planning to regularly disclose the lists of participants for face-to-face meetings at the White House,” the official told Politico.
The White House has been scrutinized for lack of transparency – and has been criticized for not posting President Biden and Vice President Harris’ schedules online and for ending the White House commentary line.
Last week, 43 open government organizations, led by the American Civil Liberties Union, wrote a letter to Biden, inviting him to “embrace open government” as one of his government’s “most important priorities”.
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But White House spokesman Mike Gwin said the president “pledged during the campaign to restore ethics and transparency for the government and, in his first few weeks in office, he took significant steps to accomplish this, including reinstating the daily press briefing, implementing comprehensive ethics guidelines for management and a commitment to regularly release visitor records again. “
White House press secretary Jen Psaki held press conferences every day during the week, except on weekends and holidays, since Biden took office.
Psaki frequently invites management officials to the podium to answer questions from the press about certain management actions or policy implementations.