AP Reporter to State Dept: ‘What Happened to This Transparency Idea?’

AP Reporter Matthew Lee asked State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki “what happened to this transparency idea?” during Tuesday’s State Department Press Briefing.

After Lee asked whether all eight federal agencies allowed to submit recommendations on the Keystone XL pipeline had submitted them by the February 2nd deadline, he was told “we’re not going to confirm, we treat them as internal recommendations.” Lee followed-up, “I’m not asking what they say, however the EPA has already put their’s out…it’s pointless for you guys to keep them secret, right?” After he was again told the reports were being treated as “internal recommendations,” Lee continued to ask why the State Department couldn’t simply say whether the recommendations had been submitted, to which he was again told that State would not confirm if they had received recommendations from all eight agencies.

A seemingly frustrated Lee then asked “what happened to this transparency idea? I’m not asking what’s in the report.” Later Lee queried “when you say ‘internal process’ that really means ‘secret’ and ‘non-transparent,’ correct?”

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