Profile picture
, 7 tweets, 4 min read
My Authors
Read all threads
NEW: The State Department has released additional Ukraine-related records to American Oversight in response to our FOIA lawsuit. Many emails are heavily redacted. We're reviewing the documents now and will be posting updates here and on our website. americanoversight.org/state-departme…
For a foreign policy initiative the White House claims was totally above board and legitimate, it is highly suspicious that top State Department officials have no records of communications with Rudy Giuliani during the critical months of August and September 2019.
Those are the months in which the rest of the administration was carrying out Trump's directive to freeze aid to Ukraine. Giuliani himself said he was in contact with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in mid-September - yet there is no record of that in these documents.
October 10 letter from top State Department official Brian Bulatao to Ambassador Yovanovitch's lawyer: "I write on behalf of the Department of State... to instruct your client... not to appear before the Committees"

americanoversight.org/document/state…
Another key point in this October letter: State says it's in the process of collecting Yovanovitch's records in response to the Congressional inquiry.

We've already filed a FOIA seeking all documents collected for internal review related to impeachment. americanoversight.org/document/foia-…
Rudy Giuliani on @FaceTheNation on September 29, 2019:
"I talked to the secretary last week and he said he was aware of it"

The files released tonight contain no records of communications between Pompeo and Giuliani in September.

cbsnews.com/news/transcrip…

cbsnews.com/news/transcrip…
These are all records that should have been produced to Congress. The fact that these and other documents have only been released through FOIA litigation is a further reminder of the administration's unprecedented obstruction.

And more documents are still coming.
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh.

Enjoying this thread?

Keep Current with American Oversight

Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime, convert it as a PDF, save and print for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video

1) Follow Thread Reader App on Twitter so you can easily mention us!

2) Go to a Twitter thread (series of Tweets by the same owner) and mention us with a keyword "unroll" @threadreaderapp unroll

You can practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @weareoversight see all

Profile picture
American Oversight
@weareoversight
The threads continue to unravel — even with the Trump administration’s unprecedented blockade of providing documents to Congress. americanoversight.org/news-roundup-t…
State Department records we obtained in November, showing phone calls between Pompeo and Giuliani in March 2019, call into question Pompeo’s knowledge of what was going on in Kyiv with regard to the former ambassador. americanoversight.org/messages-to-pa…
OMB records released last month to @publicintegrity detail the Pentagon’s concerns about the legality of withholding the Ukraine aid, and this week the GAO said the White House did in fact break the law in doing so. publicintegrity.org/national-secur…
Read 5 tweets
Profile picture
American Oversight
@weareoversight
Rebeckah Adcock, former herbicide industry lobbyist turned USDA appointee, helped Dow Chemical gain approval from China to import its genetically modified, herbicide-resistant seeds. See the documents we uncovered: americanoversight.org/document/usda-…
See the full story from @ProPublica here - citing records obtained by American Oversight and @SierraClub propublica.org/article/these-…
@propublica @SierraClub After a push from the U.S. government in 2017, China approved importing genetically-modified seeds. And before that, a former lobbyist and USDA official Rebeckah Adcock arranged a meeting between a Dow lobbyist and Sec Sonny Perdue to discuss the issue: documentcloud.org/documents/6306…
Read 4 tweets
Profile picture
American Oversight
@weareoversight
In light of the new documents released by the House yesterday, we’ve updated our timeline of records from late March 2019 — when Lev Parnas was communicating about Amb. Yovanovitch and Secretary Mike Pompeo had phone calls with Rudy Giuliani. (new thread)
On March 23, the day that Parnas exchanged messages with Trump donor Robert Hyde that suggest Yovanovitch was being surveilled, Giuliani associate Victoria Toensing had messaged Parnas, “Is the Wicket Witch gone?”
In June, Toensing’s son, Brady Toensing, joined the DOJ as senior counsel in the Office of Legal Policy after decades spent at his family’s firm. We’ve filed FOIA requests for his communications and calendars: americanoversight.org/documents?fwp_…
Read 8 tweets

Related threads

Profile picture
Jason Leopold
@JasonLeopold
New court filing by DOJ in my/@BuzzFeedNews lawsuit for all documents from Mueller's office that was used for the drafting of his final report.

DOJ doubling down, stating, the number of responsive records likely surpasses 18 BILLION PAGES.
@BuzzFeedNews DOJ is treating this #FOIA request as any other. It isn't. DOJ fails to recognize and understand the historic nature and value of the docs at issue and the agency's own statements during the course of the probe that lead me to file what they refer to as an overly broad request.
@BuzzFeedNews DOJ's Justice Management Division now has control of records from the Special Counsel's Office (Mueller). It "falls falls into three broad categories: (1) non-email digital
data, (2) email, and (3) paper files"

From DOJ atty's latest declaration in my @BuzzFeedNews #FOIA case
Read 6 tweets
Profile picture
Jason Leopold
@JasonLeopold
Thread

DOJ continues to withhold 1000s of pages of docs about the death of Mikhail Lesin, Putin's former media czar who died in a DC hotel room from blunt force injuries in what the govt says were drunken falls

I & @BuzzFeedNews have a 2 yr old #FOIA lawsuit. Look at this
1/
This is all that DOJ released to me this month in its rolling production of docs.

2/
DOJ withheld material citing grand jury secrecy (a grand jury heard testimony even though govt maintains Lesin died of drunken falls). Moreover, they invoke rarely used b7f exemption to justify withholding.

B7f protects law enforcement information endanger an individual

3/
Read 15 tweets
Profile picture
Jason Leopold
@JasonLeopold
NEW #FOIA thread: Via docs that NSA IG declassified in response to my FOIA lawsuit

In 2014, NSA IG finished an investigation in response to a complaint that an agency employee failed to report a FISA violation

(This is only being made public now because of #FOIA)

1/
This is the substance of the complaint

2/
The employee or the contractor notified the author of the relevant software program within one day, and the author “immediately” wrote new code that caused the information to be deleted.

3/
Read 6 tweets
Profile picture
Jason Leopold
@JasonLeopold
NEW from @a_cormier_ and me: The Justice Department just released a new version of the Mueller report in response to a #FOIA lawsuit by me/@BuzzFeedNews and @EPICprivacy. This version was processed in accordance with #FOIA

buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonl…
@a_cormier_ @BuzzFeedNews @EPICprivacy It appears the version of the report is identical but clearly identifies what info was withheld in response to ongoing investigations, etc.
@a_cormier_ @BuzzFeedNews @EPICprivacy In a letter to BuzzFeed News, DOJ said the material in the Mueller report was withheld under FOIA exemptions:

3, 5, 6, 7(A), 7(B), 7(C), and 7(E) of the FOIA,
5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(3), (b)(5), (b)(6), (b)(7)(A), (b)(7)(B), (b)(7)(C), and (b)(7)(E).
Read 4 tweets
Profile picture
Jason Leopold
@JasonLeopold
Not sure if anyone is aware, but for more than two years, I//@BuzzFeedNews /@_rshapiro have had a #FOIA lawsuit against multiple intel agencies for documents on their assertions that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential campaign/collusion. 1/
The agencies identified thousands of pages of documents and withheld the vast majority on national security grounds. Still, some were released and we are the only ones who have been successful in prying loose some of these records via #FOIA. 2/
So in light on the 4-page Barr memo characterizing the Mueller report (which we still haven't seen) I am reupping some of the stories I wrote from the cache of #FOIA docs on Russia interference in the 2016 campaign. These documents are from DHS, CIA, FBI, ODNI and State Dept. 3/
Read 23 tweets
Profile picture
Jason Leopold
@JasonLeopold
JUST IN from DOJ Office of Legal Counsel in response to my #FOIA

191 heavily redacted pages of emails, other docs, involving Brett Kavanaugh (228 pages withheld in full)
NEW via #FOIA: From 2003. Brett Kavanaugh shares his thoughts.
Here's a short email discussion from May 2003 between Ed Whelan and Brett Kavanaugh re: presidential power.

Email obtained by me from DOJ via #FOIA
Read 16 tweets

Trending hashtags

#Trump #FOIA #GITMOIsStaffedAndReady #UkraineHoax #ImpeachmentBackfire #Ukraine #Guantanamo #MuellerMemos #FOIAFriday #FakeNews #Pakistan #Zelensky #Whistleblower #FISA #Declassified #UkraineDocs #DNC #QAnons #climatechange #QuidProQuoJoe #lisapage #QAnon2019 #impeachment #MonumentsForAll #PelosiHatesTrump
Follow Us on Twitter!

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just three indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3.00/month or $30.00/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!