Trump could leave less documentation behind than any previous US president

Since early 2025, President Donald Trump’s administration has posted far fewer official records and briefings on the White House website than were present during the Biden administration. This scarcity stems from practices such as discouraging note-taking, scrubbing disagreeable data from government websites, refusing to release visitor logs and disputes over mishandled classified documents.

Historians and archivists warn that this approach risks leaving a less complete historical record, noting that authorized public releases sanitize information to reinforce a carefully managed presidential image.

Timothy Naftali, a presidential historian, warned that the administration is trying to shape the narrative about its actions in a way that restricts what the public can learn, posing a serious risk to transparency.