DOJ Is Abusing FOIA Exemptions to Hide Later, More Damning Testimony of Trump Aides
DOJ Is Abusing FOIA Exemptions to Hide Later, More Damning Testimony of Trump Aides
https://www.emptywheel.net/2020/03/06/doj-is-abusing-foia-exemptions-to-hide-later-more-damning-testimony-of-trump-aides/
The government has now “released” around 200 302s (FBI interview reports) in response to BuzzFeed/CNN’s FOIA. The vast majority of those, however, are heavily and at times entirely redacted. DOJ is using an unprecedentedly broad interpretation of the already badly abused b5 (deliberative) FOIA exemption to keep much of this hidden. This includes treating communications with the following people as “presidential communications:”
a. Donald Trump, President
b. Michael Pence, Vice President
c. John Kelly, Chief of Staff
d. Reince Priebus, Chief of Staff
e. Donald McGahn, Counsel to the President
f. Michael Flynn, National Security Advisor
g. Emmett Flood, Special Counsel to the President
h. Sean Spicer, Press Secretary
i. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Deputy Press Secretary; Press Secretary
j. Robert Porter, Staff Secretary
k. Stephen Bannon, Chief Strategist and Senior Adviser to the President
l. Richard Dearborn, Deputy Chief of Staff
m. John Eisenberg, Deputy Counsel to the President and Legal Adviser to the National Security Council
n. K.T. McFarland, Deputy National Security Advisor
o. Uttam Dhillon, Deputy Counsel to the President
p. Annie Donaldson, Chief of Staff to the Counsel to the President
q. Jared Kushner, Senior Adviser to the President
r. Ivanka Trump, Senior Adviser to the President
s. Hope Hicks, Director of Strategic Communications; Director of Communications
t. Stephen Miller, Senior Adviser to the President
DOJ has offered a similar — albeit smaller — list (pages 16-17) of people covered by “Presidential” privileges during the Transition (yes, both Ivanka and Jared are on that list, too).
This is outright abuse, and given yesterday’s opinion stating he will review the existing redactions in the Mueller Report, I expect Judge Reggie Walton to deem it as such once the litigation rolls around to that point.
All the more so given that it can be demonstrably shown that DOJ is selectively releasing 302s such that Trump aides’ false statements are public, but their later more accurate (and damning) statements are hidden. There are at least three examples (Steve Bannon, KT McFarland, and Mike Flynn) where DOJ is still withholding later, more accurate statements while releasing earlier deceitful ones, and two more cases (JD Gordon and Sam Clovis) where DOJ may be hiding discussions of Trump pro-Russian policy stances. And in one case (Clovis), DOJ appears to have used a b3 (protected by statute) exemption that doesn’t appear to be justifiable.
<<snip>>
