Carney: ‘There’s Never Been a More Transparent Administration’

GARRETT: "The Obama administration came to Washington promising transparency. In your view, has the administration fallen short of this goal? Also, can you update us on the status of the White House correspondent's association -- I did not write this -- complaint regarding journalist and photographer access to the president? We can probably both deal with that."
CARNEY: "Transparent -- look, I think there's no question, I've covered the previous two administrations, and know a thing or two about ones before that, there has never been a more transparent administration. We provide more information about, for example, the WAVES [the White House Workers and Visitors Entry System] records, something that no administration has ever done."
GARRETT: "Explain what the WAVES are."
CARNEY: "The WAVES records are collected by the Secret Service, of individuals who are cleared in for White House access. Those have never been released before, no administration has ever released them. And I think it's fair to say that the release of that information has made this White House far more transparent than any other. That doesn't mean it's perfectly transparent. And it also -- It creates headaches for us, and ridiculous stories on Fox News and elsewhere about, for example, saying well, the WAVES Hillary Clinton was only in the White House five times, while Secretary so-and-so was there this many times. People like Hillary Clinton, and most cabinet secretaries literally get waved in by the Secret Service. They're not entered in the logs. Second, Hillary Clinton, as her successor is, was in the White House every week. So it leads to some challenges. Because tosee records weren't designed to be a complete picture because of the way that individuals who are part of the administration enter the White House. But they provide a lot more information about who visits the White House than has ever been provided before. And in a variety of different ways, we give -- we provide a lot more information than has ever been provided before. Which doesn't mean we or any White House will ever be able to be completely transparent. In some ways that blends with the other question. It is absolutely the case today -- and will always be the case as it has always been the case -- that the White House press corps will never be satisfied with the access it has to the president or the rest of the president's team. And the reason it will never be the case is because there will always be meetings, there will always be a limit on the number of interviews or press conferences, that -- and meetings that the press is not a part of -- because it's simply impossible for any president or any White House to function otherwise. But the press should keep pressing for more access, that's absolutely the right thing to do and the responsible thing to do. And you know, when we get into debates about the level of access that this White House has given compared to previous ones, you know, I like to cite that President Obama has given more than two times as many interviews as his immediate successor, George W. Bush, and more even than Bill Clinton at this stage in his presidency."