From closed-door affairs to ‘transparency’: Meetings are different under Trumppublished at 16:38 British Summer Time
Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House
Image source, Getty ImagesHere at the White House, Cabinet meetings were once considered closed-door affairs, largely taking place behind closed doors.
During the approximately two years I was covering the latter half of the Biden administration I only recall one cabinet meeting – in September 2024 – in which the press was invited for brief remarks.
At least two other cabinet meetings – in 2021 and 2022 – also opened to the press for opening remarks, a long-standing practice of previous administrations.
Things are different in the Trump administration.
This is his seventh cabinet meeting since January, and many have turned into extremely lengthy sessions, which are sometimes preceded by each cabinet member in the room taking turns pointing to perceived successes in their departments.
The open portion of one which I attended in March lasted 47 minutes. The most recent one clocked in at nearly two hours.
In his first three cabinet meetings alone, Trump took nearly 100 questions, on a extremely wide range of domestic and foreign policy topics.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has repeatedly pointed to this as evidence that this administration is the most “transparent” in US history.
Reporters in the room – which are drawn from the day’s press pool – aren’t in any way limited in terms of what they can ask.
Judging from conversations I’ve had with reporters this morning, Lisa Cook and the US economy will be extremely high on the agenda today.
