None of the past three presidential administrations — Donald Trump’s first term, Joe Biden’s single term and the current Trump White House – have provided complete public access to presidential statements, whether through transcripts or video.
But the release of such information varies significantly, and the three administrations have taken different approaches to public documentation, according to a Roll Call Factba.se analysis of the past 3,046 days of our coverage (and existence), going back to Jan. 20, 2017.
White House stenographers transcribe all presidential statements for the administration to distribute as needed, and they go to the National Archives and Records Administration for future preservation. Each administration’s press office does things differently but their common goal is to provide information to the press and public while presenting the president and his agenda in the best possible light. They’re under no obligation to release everything, and none of the three administrations we’ve covered have approached full coverage.
With that in mind, let’s look at the numbers we compiled. (The complete dataset used in this analysis – both raw and revised, with methodology – is available as a Google Sheet: https://cqrc.al/wh-tx-data-20250522.)
Transcripts
From Jan. 20 through May 22 of both Trump administrations and the Biden administration – 123 days in total – the White House provided transcripts for at least some events, though coverage varied significantly.
The first Trump administration (Trump 45) provided transcripts for 44.05 percent of public events (100 out of 227 total events).
Biden achieved 65.63 percent coverage (126 out of 192 events). The current administration (Trump 47) provided transcripts for 13.64 percent of events (30 out of 220) until an apparent policy change this month, when transcript releases ceased. (Note: based on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine, the change occurred between May 17, 2025, at 7:30:39 p.m. ET and May 19, 2025, at 3:49:21 p.m. ET.
Video
YouTube video posts from the White House tell a similar story. Trump 45 posted full event videos for 69.60 percent of public appearances (158 out of 227).
Biden posted videos for 79.17 percent of events (152 out of 192).
The current administration has posted videos for 53.18% of events (117 out of 220). As of May 22, 2025, 48 videos were embedded at whitehouse.gov/remarks in place of all but one transcript, representing 41.03 percent of the YouTube count or 21.82 percent of all events.
Livestreaming
The White House has noted that presidential comments are available live. Due to changes in how YouTube organizes content — with separate tabs for livestreams versus uploaded videos starting in May 2021 — we only have definitive livestreaming data for the current administration.
Of 220 public events for Trump 47, 70 were streamed live (31.82 percent). Among events that received video coverage, 59.83 percent were livestreamed, while 40.17 percent were uploaded after the event.
Missing events
Even our comprehensive tracking has gaps. What we call “stubs” — events we know occurred but couldn’t obtain materials for — represent 1.73 percent of Trump’s documented events covering both terms through May 22, 2025, (49 out of 2,838 total captured events during his presidency) and 0.36 percent of Biden’s full term (10 out of 2,763).
Methodology note
Roll Call Factba.se aims to capture every public appearance at which the president speaks (even if it’s just one word), transcribe it and provide the corresponding media. We monitor everything from White House events to press pool reports to C-SPAN to UFC — really — for any sign of a public statement made by the president. Interviews are our biggest challenge, and we thank friends of Roll Call Factba.se like Martha Joynt Kumar, director of the White House Transition Project, for her assists and occasional “I think you missed this …” emails to keep us honest.
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