The White House has accused the incoming Trump administration of a lack transparency, saying it has taken a “different approach” to claims made about the President-elect from that of the Obama administration when faced with the ‘birther’ conspiracy.
According to The Independent, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the lack of evidence being released by Donald Trump’s team to rebut claims in a leaked intelligence dossier “only serves to sow public doubt”.
In making his point, he stated that when the Obama team was faced with conspiracy theories that the president was not born in the US, they provided evidence to refute the claims.
He pointed out the administration released a hard copy of Obama’s long-form birth certificate in 2011.
“There were a wide variety of the president’s critics who were suggesting and propagating conspiracy theories that somehow the president was not born in the United States,” Mr Earnest told reporters.
“All of you could look at that piece of paper and verify for yourself to be convinced that the charges against the president — that were lobbed against the president — were false.
“The incoming administration has chosen a different approach. They’ve not been transparent.
“There’s ample evidence they could marshal to make public to refute those claims, those accusations they say are baseless, but refuse to do so. That kind of secrecy only serves to sow public doubt.”