The idea came from Washington Deputy Chief of Bureau Mike Tackett, who posed a timely question to White House reporter Will Weissert: What impact is the second Trump administration—and Donald Trump himself—having on presidential record keeping?
As Weissert began making calls, he quickly realized a clear pattern. Every source said the same, troubling thing: the second Trump administration is generating fewer official records than any modern presidency—and perhaps fewer than any in American history.
His reporting revealed that not only has the administration failed to continue even the limited record-keeping systems from Trump’s first term, but it has also distanced itself from practices like using Microsoft Teams, which had been adopted under President Biden.
The White House did not dispute the story’s central premise.
Weissert wove together a compelling narrative, gathering a range of voices to explore why record keeping matters, why this administration may be avoiding it, and what that means for the historical record. He also tapped into the long history of presidential documentation to highlight how today’s decisions could leave lasting gaps for future historians.
The result was a clear-eyed, accessible, and urgent story about the importance of transparency, accountability and legacy in American democracy.
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