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ABC News Political Director: Trump 'Above and Beyond' More Accessible Than Previous Presidents 

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WASHINGTON – Rick Klein, political director for ABC News, said President Donald Trump has been far more accessible to the media than both former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. 
 
"In terms of just the access to the thinking of the president and what the president is doing, this White House is above and beyond, far and away more accessible," Klein told David Brody and Jenna Browder on CBN News' Faith Nation. 

"That doesn't mean he's actually answering the questions honestly or forthrightly or all of the important questions," he added. "In fact, I think there are a lot of issues with all of these things."   
 
So far, Trump has held one formal news conference while in office, something Klein said he would like to see happen more often, although he's not necessarily complaining.  
 
"The amount of the information flowing out of the president himself, not to mention the White House itself, is unparalleled," Klein said. 
 
Klein acknowledged Trump's savvy ability to control the media narrative and when asked if Trump has changed the way future presidents and politicians will communicate, he answered without hesitation: "100 thousand percent." 
 
"In every way that I can think about he's changed the way that a president communicates: the way a president articulates positions, the way the president communicates with world leaders as well as the public," said Klein. "He used the megaphone of Twitter and also kind of informal statements and media availability in and around his day-to-day in such a radically different way." 
 
With some cable news networks focusing so much of their attention on stories like the Russia investigation and Stormy Daniels, Democrats are concerned about breaking through with their message in the upcoming midterm elections, another topic Klein addressed.  
 
"I've talked to more Democratic politicians who wish we would stop covering Trump entirely and focus instead on the issues that separate Democrats from Republicans," he told CBN News
 
Klein added that in his travels across the country, most voters aren't preoccupied with campaign investigations and payoffs to porn stars.  
 
Klein said there's a new reality Democrats have to face under Trump. 
 
"They have to adjust to this environment just like we have," he said. "President Trump is this force. He has changed everything."

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About The Author

Jenna
Browder

Jenna Browder co-hosts Faith Nation and is a network correspondent for CBN News. She has interviewed many prominent national figures from both sides of the political aisle, including presidents, cabinet secretaries, lawmakers, and other high-ranking officials. Jenna grew up in the small mountain town of Gunnison, Colorado and graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she studied journalism. Her first TV jobs were at CBS affiliates in Cheyenne, Wyoming and Monroe, Louisiana where she anchored the nightly news. She came to Washington, D.C. in 2016. Getting to cover that year's