I wish the Trump White House had continued the established tradition of posting transcripts of the president’s remarks and the White House press briefing. When I’m writing about the president, I want to quote him accurately, and it’s always good to reassure a reader by throwing in a link to the transcript. Coverage of the president’s remarks in news articles by wire services and other journalism organizations usually just includes one or two sentences.

CNN notes the White House has removed a database of official transcripts documenting the president’s announcements and appearances.

However, there is a work around, in that just about every appearance of the president ends up on YouTube, either on the official White House account or that of other news organizations. Just about every video on YouTube offers a transcript, which is automatically generated and includes some phonetic spelling and other quirks, so a reporter ought to listen to the video to make sure the transcript is accurate. (Outside of The Last of Us, that speaker probably did not refer to his friend as a mushroom but instead said that he was a “fun guy.”)

C-SPAN has transcripts as well, but their transcripts are in large blocks of ALL CAPS text.

An unnamed White House official told NBC News that the transcripts were removed for “consistency,” which sounds like a nonsense excuse, particularly for an administration that boasts “truly the most transparent, accessible president in American history.”

Let us also pause to note the irony that a White House official didn’t want to be quoted on the record while justifying the removal of transcripts of the president’s remarks, in service of the “most transparent, accessible president in American history.”