
Former White House stenographer Beck Dorey-Stein speaking with CNN's "New Day" on Wednesday morning. (Screengrab/YouTube)
To donate by check, phone, or other method, see our More Ways to Give page.
Former White House stenographer Beck Dorey-Stein speaking with CNN's "New Day" on Wednesday morning. (Screengrab/YouTube)
A former White House stenographer on Wednesday offered new details into why she resigned from the post, saying she felt President Donald Trump was "not even trying to tell the truth" to the American public.
Beck Dorey-Stein began as a White House stenographer in 2012 under the Obama administration, and resigned just months after Trump took office.
"I quit because I couldn't be proud of where I worked anymore," she told CNN's "New Day."
"I was so proud to serve under the Obama administration, and I felt like president Trump was lying to the American people and also not even trying to tell the truth--he wasn't even going the extra mile to have the stenographers in the room," she said.
Breaking with precedent, she said the Trump White House office often "didn't include us [stenographers] in his meetings with the press." The president, "we quickly learned, does not like microphones near his face."
She said she'd "never seen anything" like what happened before Trump's interview with Bill O'Reilly in 2017 when Trump spent an hour with the former Fox News host in private ahead of their interview.
"In my five years with President Barack Obama, off-the-record discussions with reporters happened after work hours--not for an hour in the middle of the work day, and certainly not before an interview," she wrote in an op-ed at the New York Times. "When a president spoke on the record with a reporter, his staff made sure to have a stenographer present so there could be an official White House transcript, just in case the reporter came out with an inaccurate quotation."
"If President Trump was really interested in fighting 'fake news,' he would have a stenographer present and also would have that transcript ready to go and say, '...We have the transcript, we can just refer to this,'" she said, also pointed to a recent interview Trump gave with British tabloid The Sun which he dubbed "fake news."
"Mr. Trump likes to call anyone who disagrees with him 'fake news,'" she wrote at the Times. "But if he's really the victim of so much inaccurate reporting, why is he so averse to having the facts recorded and transcribed?"
"It's clear that White House stenographers do not serve his administration, but rather his adversary: the truth," she concluded. Watch her interview on CNN below:
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Our Summer Campaign is now underway, and there’s never been a more urgent time for Common Dreams to be as vigilant as possible. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
A former White House stenographer on Wednesday offered new details into why she resigned from the post, saying she felt President Donald Trump was "not even trying to tell the truth" to the American public.
Beck Dorey-Stein began as a White House stenographer in 2012 under the Obama administration, and resigned just months after Trump took office.
"I quit because I couldn't be proud of where I worked anymore," she told CNN's "New Day."
"I was so proud to serve under the Obama administration, and I felt like president Trump was lying to the American people and also not even trying to tell the truth--he wasn't even going the extra mile to have the stenographers in the room," she said.
Breaking with precedent, she said the Trump White House office often "didn't include us [stenographers] in his meetings with the press." The president, "we quickly learned, does not like microphones near his face."
She said she'd "never seen anything" like what happened before Trump's interview with Bill O'Reilly in 2017 when Trump spent an hour with the former Fox News host in private ahead of their interview.
"In my five years with President Barack Obama, off-the-record discussions with reporters happened after work hours--not for an hour in the middle of the work day, and certainly not before an interview," she wrote in an op-ed at the New York Times. "When a president spoke on the record with a reporter, his staff made sure to have a stenographer present so there could be an official White House transcript, just in case the reporter came out with an inaccurate quotation."
"If President Trump was really interested in fighting 'fake news,' he would have a stenographer present and also would have that transcript ready to go and say, '...We have the transcript, we can just refer to this,'" she said, also pointed to a recent interview Trump gave with British tabloid The Sun which he dubbed "fake news."
"Mr. Trump likes to call anyone who disagrees with him 'fake news,'" she wrote at the Times. "But if he's really the victim of so much inaccurate reporting, why is he so averse to having the facts recorded and transcribed?"
"It's clear that White House stenographers do not serve his administration, but rather his adversary: the truth," she concluded. Watch her interview on CNN below:
A former White House stenographer on Wednesday offered new details into why she resigned from the post, saying she felt President Donald Trump was "not even trying to tell the truth" to the American public.
Beck Dorey-Stein began as a White House stenographer in 2012 under the Obama administration, and resigned just months after Trump took office.
"I quit because I couldn't be proud of where I worked anymore," she told CNN's "New Day."
"I was so proud to serve under the Obama administration, and I felt like president Trump was lying to the American people and also not even trying to tell the truth--he wasn't even going the extra mile to have the stenographers in the room," she said.
Breaking with precedent, she said the Trump White House office often "didn't include us [stenographers] in his meetings with the press." The president, "we quickly learned, does not like microphones near his face."
She said she'd "never seen anything" like what happened before Trump's interview with Bill O'Reilly in 2017 when Trump spent an hour with the former Fox News host in private ahead of their interview.
"In my five years with President Barack Obama, off-the-record discussions with reporters happened after work hours--not for an hour in the middle of the work day, and certainly not before an interview," she wrote in an op-ed at the New York Times. "When a president spoke on the record with a reporter, his staff made sure to have a stenographer present so there could be an official White House transcript, just in case the reporter came out with an inaccurate quotation."
"If President Trump was really interested in fighting 'fake news,' he would have a stenographer present and also would have that transcript ready to go and say, '...We have the transcript, we can just refer to this,'" she said, also pointed to a recent interview Trump gave with British tabloid The Sun which he dubbed "fake news."
"Mr. Trump likes to call anyone who disagrees with him 'fake news,'" she wrote at the Times. "But if he's really the victim of so much inaccurate reporting, why is he so averse to having the facts recorded and transcribed?"
"It's clear that White House stenographers do not serve his administration, but rather his adversary: the truth," she concluded. Watch her interview on CNN below: