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A judge just heard args in BuzzFeed and @JasonLeopold's FOIA request for the Mueller report. Judge denied request for an injunction to have the report produced under FOIA by 4/18 — judge wants to wait and see what gets released by AG Barr on Thursday and go from there
But: The judge indicated he wants to move on the FOIA side of this, which involves litigating redactions, quickly. He said the AG had "created an environment" that caused a sign. part of the American public to question whether there's been full transparency re: the Mueller report
The judge told the government that it should start thinking about how he can assess whether they've properly withheld information under FOIA. This could mean "in camera" inspection by the judge — aka, the judge gets to read what's behind the redaction bars
The judge — US District Judge Reggie Walton in DC — said he hoped the government is "going to be as transparent as it can be" in what it releases re: the Mueller report, although he was mindful of the need to protect grand jury info/info about ongoing investigations
The DOJ lawyer said she couldn't say yet if DOJ is going to represent in court that the version of the report Barr releases Thursday is the same one they're going to release under FOIA. The judge strongly urged the govt to come to the next hearing on 5/2 ready to talk about that
Walton hasn't decided yet if he's going to consolidate BuzzFeed's case with another FOIA case re: the Mueller report filed by @EPICprivacy. But he's going to have both parties come back at the same time for the next status hearing at least (on 5/2)
What Walton has made clear that he wants to get litigation moving as quickly as possible over what the govt can withhold in the Mueller report — he just wasn't convinced it made sense to act before Barr releases the report (with redactions determined by the AG) on Thursday
