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THREAD: DOT officials sent hundreds of emails and spent months planning a trip to China for ELAINE CHAO. They even designed a logo for the luggage Elaine Chao took a particular interest in picking out gifts for officials she would meet in China 
Here is what the DOT staff was assigned by Cabinet member to do
The agency also put a chunk of work in to prepare special luggage tags for the folks going on this trip, or at least who planned to make the trip
DOT went to great lengths in FOIA response to hide any evidence from THE NYT that Chao's staff was communicating with FOREMOST (the family shipping company that does business in China) while they worked to prepare for this trip. Everything is redacted. Well almost everything.
As the folks who were assigned to redact emails missed one fact, that @PekingMike spotted. The FAX number for FOREMOST headquarters in New York was left on an email sent by someone at FOREMOST as someone from the company coordinated with DOT about Chao's planned trip.
But then the State Department raised ethics concerns. Asking why Elaine Chao's family was going to be a part of this trip. Her family was in the shipping business in China. Thus the ETHICS QUESTION.
Within a matter of days, the trip was cancelled.
HERE IS THE ENTIRE COLLECTION OF EMAILS WE GOT FROM US DOT. More than 1,300 pages detailing planning for the trip to China, which was cancelled after ethics questions raised. SEE THIS LINK. Transparency matters. @PekingMike documentcloud.org/documents/6111…
And of course, here is the story. READ AND SHARE. This took four reporters, working in NY, DC, China over a period of months, as well as NYT legal team to sue to get the documents. This is an investment in news reporting. Thank U subscribers nytimes.com/2019/06/02/us/…
