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Zoe Tillman @ZoeTillman
, 4 tweets, 2 min read Read on Twitter
Remember last year when the chair of House Financial Services directed agencies to treat communications as congressional records, not agency records, to shield from FOIA? buzzfeednews.com/article/maryan… There's a ruling today in a FOIA case about all that: ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_p…
The court judge ruled DOJ has to turn over a few redacted documents involving communications with the White House related to a FOIA request for docs re: the Hensarling situation — the judge reviewed the docs and said they're not protected by attorney-client privilege
On the other hand, the judge found that DOJ properly withheld documents between an exec branch agency and three DOJ offices — some are a clear request for legal advice and some divule confidential agency info, he wrote
Taking a few steps back, this is also your regular reminder that a lawsuit filed over whatever is in the news right now can take quite a while to actually move through the courts!
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Hello on this mild morning from the DC Council, which is scheduled to vote today on the LOVE Act -- emergency legislation that would make it possible for couples to get a DC marriage license during the federal govt shutdown (background: buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…)
At the DC Council this a.m. waiting for a vote on the LOVE Act, and listening to Councilmember Grosso intro a bill to legalize and regulate sales of marijuana. "This council should be unapologetic in pursuing what is best for our constituents." Background: dcist.com/story/19/01/07…
The LOVE Act is up — this emergency legislation will make it possible for couples to get a marriage license in DC during the govt shutdown. It's being introduced by Councilmember Brandon Todd at the request of DC Mayor Muriel Bowser
Read 5 tweets
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NEW: The federal judiciary now expects to have enough money from other sources to keep the courts largely business-as-usual during the shutdown through Jan. 18 (previously it was Jan. 11) — this is the latest from the Administrative Office of the US Courts (HT @hsu_spencer)
In order to make the funds that the judiciary does have (absent a congressional appropriation) last as long as possible, "courts have been asked to delay or defer non-mission critical expenses, such as new hires, non-case related travel, and certain contracts"
DOJ, of course, is already affected by the shutdown, so most judges have been approving requests or issuing blanket orders to delay civil litigation involving the federal govt during the shutodwn (criminal cases still have to proceed as usual)
Read 3 tweets
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Some fireworks in court this morning as a judge criticized the lawyer representing Concord Management & Consulting in the special counsel Russian troll farm case for his language and harsh words about Mueller's office in filings — "unprofessional, inappropriate, and ineffective"
The judge told attorney Eric Dubelier that his strategy was "ineffective" and that his approach to filings — including pop culture quotes (see: assets.documentcloud.org/documents/5676…) and accusing Mueller's office basically of lawlessness — was "undermining your credibility in this courthouse"
"Knock it off," Judge Dabney Friedrich told Dubelier. This then led to a heated exchange where Dubelier said he needed to consult his client since the judge had accused of unprofessional conduct, and now there might be bias from the judge. There's no bias, the judge replied.
Read 6 tweets

Related threads

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Been a pretty shitty year for #FOIA. Govt agencies continue to thwart the release of records. But I was still able to pry loose a few gems.

Here's a thread to highlight all of the news stories I published at @BuzzFeedNews in 2018 based on docs I obtained via #FOIA ICYMI 1/
People Actually Complained That TV Networks Repeated Trump's "Shithole" Comment

After news networks quoted the president talking about "shithole countries," audience members complained to the FCC — and @BuzzFeedNews obtained their complaints. #FOIA 2/

buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonl…
Trump Transition Records, A Source Of Friction With Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Were Almost Destroyed

buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonl…

#FOIA 3/
Read 19 tweets
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Trump: Day 696
-Under *17* Different Investigations
-Russia Targeted African-Americans
-Flynn's Business Partner Indicted
-Offers Farmers Extra $4.9B in Relief
-Student Loan Debt Reaches $1.47T
-Dow Plummets Another 507 Points
-Awarded "Golden Idiot" by Germans
Add...
Day 801 since Donald Trump admitted to sexual assault — yet he’s still in the Oval Office
Add...
Day 652 of NO EVIDENCE produced by Trump that his phones were tapped by Obama.

The FISA warrant Trump referenced targeted Carter Page. #TrumpLies
Read 77 tweets
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CIA just published its 2018 #FOIA stats, they closed out the year with 2009 backlogged requests.

Their numbers from last year show that, at any given time, I make up about 10% of their backlog.
FBI closed out FY2018 with 5,534 #FOIA requests backlogged – I make up just over 7% of that. (Vexsome indeed)
BTW, if you haven't yet now's the time to file #FOIA requests with different agencies for their lists of vexsome/high volume requesters.
Read 3 tweets
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NEW from me via #FOIA:

An NSA "deputy chief" engaged in an "egregious" pattern of sexual misconduct and abusive behavior towards women at the agency, according to an NSA inspector general report that has remained classified for 5 years.

buzzfeednews.com/article/jasona…
“Subsequent to being disciplined, he did not cease his misconduct." Rather, the deputy chief “simply stopped misusing chat and relied solely on email to engage in inappropriate written exchanges with females, because he believed it was not monitored and he would not be caught.”
The NSA deputy chief also used his supervisor’s email account to send himself a sexually charged email. He explained to the inspector general he did this in order to teach his boss a lesson that she should lock down her computer, an assertion the IG did not find credible
Read 4 tweets
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UPDATE to UPDATE: USPS #FOIA office says it has no record in its logs of America Rising's FOIA request for Spanberger's personnel file, meaning it did not process the request. HOWEVER ... 1/

Just learned from USPS referral of America Rising's request from NPRC was directly to USPS Corporate Personnel Management. Right here: about.usps.com/handbooks/as35…

BUT and this is important: NPRC is actually agency that pulled Spanberger's personnel file! NPRC sent it to USPS! 2/
So NPRC, in a July 12 letter to America Rising, said that it pulled Spanberger's entire personnel file and said USPS retains custody of the file so they sent it to USPS corporate management for review. 3 wks later, USPS HR approved the release to America Rising 3/3
Read 4 tweets
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Exclusive w/ #FOIA master @JasonLeopold: New Documents From Kavanaugh’s Time In The Bush White House Show He Worked On Key Questions Of Presidential Power —> buzzfeednews.com/article/chrisg…
Wild to think this heavily redacted subset (3 months) of a subset (Kavanaugh's communications w/ OLC) is the most we have seen of the #SCOTUS nominee's 5 years of communications in the GWB White House. And this little bit shows he did key work. —> buzzfeednews.com/article/chrisg…
READ the Kavanaugh documents for yourself because, of course, being @BuzzFeedNews, we posted them so that you can read them all. Links throughout the story: buzzfeednews.com/article/chrisg…
Read 3 tweets

Trending hashtags

#KavaNO #NSA #BecauseofJesus #chickenwings #OpKavanaugh #FOIA #KremlinAnnex #StopKavanaugh #fakenews #NeverForget #LGBTQ #TuesdayThoughts #MSDProud #Spiceman #SOTU #RuleOfLaw #INSCOM #NeverAgain #Assange #SandyHook #PaycheckPresident #hospitality #KevinSpcaey #Manafort #WikiLeaks

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