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American Oversight

14 Oct, 11 tweets, 4 min read

New: Two sets of documents we obtained show federal agencies approved and/or were aware of President Trump’s tweets prior to him publishing them.

The records provide a unique look into the workings of the president’s Twitter account.

The first set shows DHS officials approved a tweet sent from President Trump’s personal Twitter account regarding the so-called migrant caravan on April 30, 2018.
americanoversight.org/document/cbp-r…

In an email titled “Urgent: [redacted],” an executive secretary at DHS requested “clearance ASAP, since White House deadline is 1:45 pm.”

That email was then forwarded to a group that included Stephen Miller, Chad Wolf, and others.

“Below please find a proposed tweet regarding immigration laws and the migrant caravan,” wrote the redacted Staff Secretary before asking for comments before 1:45 PM.

At 1:12 on April 30, an unnamed official responded that the “Plcy clears.”

That same evening of April 30, 2018, President Trump tweeted about the migrant caravan:

The second instance regards a tweet from January 2019. President Trump tweeted that FEMA should not send anymore money to California to help combat forest fires until “they get their act together.”
thehill.com/policy/energy-…

We requested communications about, linking, or referencing these tweets. The records we received in response suggest that FEMA was aware this tweet, or a tweet with similar content, would be published by the president.
americanoversight.org/document/fema-…

After Trump tweeted about FEMA on January 9, 2019, Jessica Nalepa, then FEMA’s Director of External Affairs, sent an email to top FEMA officials: “Tweet is out.” She linked to an earlier version of Trump’s tweet that misspelled “forest.”

In response to an inquiry from the Senate Appropriations Committee about the tweet, FEMA CFO Mary Comans asked top FEMA officials if it had been directed to stop recovery action. Eventually, the White House took over communications with press regarding the tweet.

When the president’s tweets sow confusion or controversy, the posts are often depicted as the president’s “rogue” statements. DOJ has argued that both that his tweets are presidential actions and that they are not.

reuters.com/article/legal-…

These documents show that sometimes the president’s tweets are vetted through a government agency and that agencies sometimes know about the statements in advance.

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American Oversight

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15 Oct

The Trump administration has made it harder for people fleeing violence and persecution to obtain asylum in the United States.

We obtained new documents showing an early version of the controversial Migrant Protection Protocols policy.
americanoversight.org/document/cbp-r…

Under MPP, which DHS announced in January 2019 and the Supreme Court ruled could continue in March 2020, asylum-seekers are forced to wait in Mexico while their cases proceed, forcing them to stay in dangerous locations, with limited access to attorneys & case info.

In a February 2017 presentation from the “U.S. Customs and Border Protections Migration Crisis Action Team,” a slide showed that CBP was planning to develop guidance for implementation of 235 (b)(2)(c).

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American Oversight

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14 Oct

New: We are suing Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger and other state officials for failing to respond to dozens of open records requests related to voting rights and this election.
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Although early voting only just began this week, reports are already describing hours of waiting in line and issues with poll pad check-in computers. These follow the disastrous delays that plagued the June 2020 primary election.

In the last year, we made public records requests to Raffensberger’s office for emails related to the Absentee Ballot Task Force, communications with organizations that have a history of voter suppression efforts, records related to complications w/ the primary elections & more.

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American Oversight

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13 Oct

On April 7, Wisconsin held primary elections as the state was under pandemic lockdowns.

Wisconsin required voters with absentee ballots to include a copy of a photo ID and for the absentee ballots themselves to be signed by a witness.

On March 31, Assistant Majority Leader Mary Felzkowski sent a constituent an email that showed the problems with the witness requirement: “I have heard a lot of creative solutions here. If you have someone willing to come over, you can sign it on one side of a window or door….

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American Oversight

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9 Oct

The Trump administration separated children from parents as a deliberately cruel measure to attempt to deter future migrants.

For #FOIAFriday, we’re highlighting our extensive timeline of the administration’s communications about family separation.
americanoversight.org/a-timeline-of-…

In particular, we’re drawing attention to the role of former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. While Nielsen has tried to distance herself from the policy, documents we uncovered through FOIA show her involvement.

On March 3, 2017, Reuters reported that the administration was considering a family-separation proposal. An unidentified person emailed the story to the DHS budget director: “I would be truly grateful if you could tell me this isn’t being seriously considered.”

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8 Oct

Over six months into the pandemic, shortages of PPE remain.

New documents we obtained show Jared Kushner—the president’s son-in-law who was tasked with managing the supply chain of PPE—forwarded information about the importance of masks to combatting Covid-19.

On May 15, Kushner forwarded the—in his words—“interesting intel” that “masks really work” and are the “silver bullet in Asia.” The forwarded email info specified the benefits of surgical and N95 masks over homemade masks.

americanoversight.org/document/ustr-…

In the forwarded email, Kushner’s “good source” expressed “dismay” that DuPont, the American chemical company, no longer makes the effective melt-blown nonwoven fabric and that the country is “heavily dependent on Sinopec,” a Chinese company.

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American Oversight

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7 Oct

New: Yesterday, after weeks of delay, the FDA released its Emergency Use Authorization standards for prospective coronavirus vaccines. We had previously filed a FOIA request for the guidelines. americanoversight.org/fda-releases-c…

We sent the FDA, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Office of Management and Budget requests seeking the guidelines on Sept. 30. This week, the FDA emailed us, “In response to your FOIA request, the EUA guidance is posted.”

The guidelines set in place new requirements that make it unlikely that a vaccine will receive authorization in the next month. The FDA is now advising vaccine developers to monitor trial participants for at least two months following their final dose of a vaccine or placebo.

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