Author reveals 'complete canard' Trump admin has been selling: 'Good at keeping secrets'

A New York Times reporter detailed how good the Trump administration is at keeping secrets.

Jonathan Swan, who co-wrote the book Regime Change with fellow NYT reporter Maggie Haberman, explained during an appearance on MS NOW's "Deadline: White House" that the Trump administration even kept secrets from senior officials.

"There is this phrase that they use, 'We're the most transparent administration ever.' Trump says it all the time," Swan said. "It's a complete canard. When they actually want to keep secrets, they're very good at it."

Swan added that the administration kept secrets about "the Trump family, investment from the Emiratis in their crypto business, or whether it's the memorandum of understanding to end the war [with] Iran."

Even "very senior people in the U.S. government had no idea what was in the document," Swan continued, referring to the memorandum of understanding at the heart of Trump's Iran deal.

"I'm talking about very senior people at the Pentagon, State Department, intelligence community," Swan said. "This is really a country being run by five, seven people, sitting around, and when you're that concerned with secrecy, with limiting leaks, you're not allowing certain people in the room who might have subject-matter expertise to offer."

Swan and Haberman's book has already revealed stories from inside the administration, like a "freakout" among President Donald Trump's top staffover the Epstein files and First Lady Melania Trump's objections to his White House overhaul. Swan said that the second administration is much different from the first in regard to its secrecy.

"It became really apparent to us through this reporting," he said. "This group of people around Trump, much more than the first term, is very good at keeping secrets."