President Donald Trump’s administration has quietly removed a longstanding digital archive of presidential transcripts from the White House website, raising concerns about government transparency and historical record-keeping.
Rather than publishing official transcripts of the president’s speeches and public remarks -- a routine followed by prior administrations -- the website now primarily hosts YouTube videos with limited archival completeness.
The absence of full text records, combined with a curated video selection, suggests a move toward tighter information control, reports CNN.
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HuffPost’s S.V. Date had earlier flagged the administration’s pattern of omitting some of Trump’s more controversial statements from official postings.
That trend has escalated, with nearly all transcripts now absent from the site -- except for the president’s inaugural address.
Steven Cheung, White House communications director, dismissed criticism, responding to Date with a remark to “stop beclowning yourself,” CNN adds.
Meanwhile, Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary, asserted that the administration remains transparent by livestreaming presidential appearances.
Journalists, researchers, and the public now lack searchable records of presidential statements, complicating efforts to verify or contextualize official comments. Government-employed stenographers still transcribe Trump’s words, but those transcripts are not being made publicly available.
The disappearance of these documents limits scrutiny and raises questions about the administration’s commitment to open governance. Analysts argue that while livestreamed footage provides visual access, it doesn’t replace the utility of searchable, text-based archives.
External platforms like Factba.se -- which independently compile and store such data -- have become vital. Founder Bill Frischling emphasized the growing need for independent repositories of presidential records.
Beck Dorey-Stein, a former White House stenographer, previously highlighted Trump’s indifference toward transcript preservation in a 2018 op-ed.
She questioned why a president who often accuses the press of misrepresentation would not want precise records maintained.
In an era when optics and curated media dominate the administration’s messaging strategy, critics say visibility has replaced transparency -- favoring spectacle over substance.
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Image: Shutterstock/Joshua Sukoff
