Trump refused to publish the names of White house visitors
The administration of us President Donald trump has decided to abandon the publication of the registration list of visitors to White house.
In a statement, the White house says that the publication of such information constitutes a “serious risks to national security and security of personal data”.
Under the new Directive, the lists of White house visitors will be issued earlier than five years after the departure of Donald trump from the post of President of the United States.
Former US President Barack Obama as the White house has voluntarily released the names of six million visitors.
Supporters of the publication of the journals of the visits, saying that such information gives an idea about which groups or individuals can influence policy at the White house.
Communications Director of the White house Michael Dubke explained that the trump is guided by the decision of the Federal court in 2013, which ruled that most of the entries in the registration list is information relating to the work of the President and are not subject to the Law on freedom of information.
However, according to experts, the information about visitors of the several departments of the administration of the trump — for example, office of management and budget and the trade mission of the USA — is subject to the Law on freedom of information.
White house officials also stress that the new policy of Donald trump in respect of the publication records is essentially a return to the old practice, which operated to Barack Obama.
The Obama administration began to publish visitor logs in September 2009. When publication lists were made some exceptions: for example no information is published on private visits to family members of Barack Obama. Also was not in the list of names of those who visited the White house in connection with some “sensitive issues”. So, the Obama administration has not published the names of who visited the White house of potential candidates for positions in the Supreme court.
The lists were published on the White house website. After the White house was Donald trump, the publication of the list ceased. According to representatives of the White house, the update of the page on which published lists would have cost the taxpayers 70 thousand dollars for the period from 2017 to 2020.
Visitor logs were published immediately, but usually after a few months.
The Democrats offered to pass a law requiring the administration to trump to publish the names of the visitors of the other offices, including the names of visitors to his residence, Mar-a-Lago in Florida.