Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) knocked the White House’s public disclosure practices on Monday, saying that President Trump needs to learn there’s little privacy in politics.
“Sometimes I think [President Trump] doesn’t understand the line between being a private businessman and serving the public trust, and he thinks he can just run his life the same way he’s done for 50 years,” Cummings said, according to The New York Times.
“But this is about the public trust. If you want to get rich, don’t get into politics. I know that. If you want privacy, don’t go into politics. He needs to learn that,” the lawmaker added.
{mosads}White House press secretary Sean Spicer last week announced that the Trump administration would not release visitor logs for the West Wing, ending a practice started by the Obama administration.
“It’s about following the law,” Spicer said. “We’re following the law as both the Presidential Records Act and the Federal Records Act prescribe it. It’s the same policy that every administration had up until the Obama administration.”
The White House maintained that “the grave national security risks and privacy concerns of the hundreds of thousands of visitors annually” justifies its position on keeping the records secret.
Spicer on Monday also said Trump still cannot release his tax returns because he is under an IRS audit.