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“The most transparent administration in history” strikes again.
The Washington Post reports that President Obama’s press aides have been censoring and changing details in pool reports.
Pool reports are written by reporters for other reporters and give people an up-close look at the president beyond the official White House record. Details from pool reports are worked into most articles about the president’s day. These reports are sent to White House for distribution and that is where the changes are happening, the Post reported.
From the Washington Post:
“As the pool reporter on a presidential trip to California in mid-2012, Todd Gillman of the Dallas Morning News included a colorful scene in his pool file: Obama walking back to the press section of Air Force One bearing a dessert with a lighted candle to honor a veteran reporter who was making her final presidential trip. Gillman added the seemingly innocuous detail that Obama asked the honoree to blow out the candle and make a wish, “preferably one that had something to do with the number 270,” the minimum number of electoral college votes the president needed to win reelection.
A press aide, whom Gillman declined to identify, asserted that the details of this scene were off the record and refused to distribute Gillman’s account.”
Though Obama claims to be more transparent than his predecessors, this is just yet another data point that proves otherwise.
Obama frequently holds only off-the-records meetings, as does his staff. His administration has launched more investigations into whistleblowers and anonymous sources than any before it.
The Associated Press reported earlier this year that each year of Obama’s presidency access to government data and documents have gotten worse. His administration has “censored government files or outright denied access to them under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act” a record 81,752 times.
