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4 Mar, 4 tweets, 2 min read
An internal watchdog report found that former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao misused her office — including to support her family's shipping business. The Trump DOJ chose not to pursue a criminal investigation.
americanoversight.org/transportation…
One item reportedly examined in the inspector general report: Chao's misuse of official staff for a planned 2017 trip to China.
nytimes.com/2021/03/03/us/…
This fits with a pattern we saw in records we obtained:

In early 2017, Chao's staff at the Department of Transportation worked with Sen. McConnell's office to arrange a private tour of the U.S. Capitol for a delegation visiting from China.
documentcloud.org/documents/5700… Image
Learn more about our ongoing work to get answers about the conflicts of interest — including those of former Secretary Chao — that pervaded the Trump administration:
americanoversight.org/investigation/…

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More from @weareoversight

American Oversight Profile picture
5 Mar
Last week, we challenged USPS’s excessive redactions of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s calendar.

This week, we asked the DOJ to reconsider whether it’s appropriate to defend USPS in our lawsuit for these records. #FOIAFriday
americanoversight.org/document/lette…
Attorney general nominee Merrick Garland recently testified that an important policy DOJ developed during his previous service in the department was to “read the Freedom of Information Act generously.”
cnn.com/2021/02/20/pol…
It’s also been DOJ’s policy not to defend agencies’ withholdings where they lack a substantial legal basis. And former AGs Janet Reno and Eric Holder both issued FOIA policy memos that made clear DOJ wouldn’t defend withholdings where disclosure wouldn’t result in harm.
Read 5 tweets
American Oversight Profile picture
5 Mar
Voting rights are under attack. In January and February of this year alone, state lawmakers in 43 states introduced or carried over more than 250 bills restricting voting rights.
brennancenter.org/our-work/resea…
But the stolen-election lie isn’t just fueling new voting restrictions in states, it’s also led to numerous other measures meant to dampen democracy, from changing ballot-initiative rules to laying the groundwork for a new wave of gerrymandering.
americanoversight.org/news-roundup-t…
Here are a few examples. In Arizona, lawmakers have been leading the charge in introducing bills that restrict voting.
latimes.com/politics/story…
Read 16 tweets
American Oversight Profile picture
4 Mar
New: The Secret Service told us it has no records of call logs for its top officials on Jan. 6, the day of the Capitol attack.

We’re skeptical. Members of the Secret Service were at the Capitol with former VP Mike Pence.
americanoversight.org/document/no-re… Image
Call logs simply document incoming and outgoing calls, like this record we previously obtained: Image
While the Secret Service was only one law enforcement agency present at the Capitol that day, we would be surprised if there were no calls made or received that day by top officials at the Secret Service.
Read 4 tweets
American Oversight Profile picture
4 Mar
This is a big deal: Former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao misused her office – including to support her family's shipping business — an internal watchdog report found. The Trump Justice Department chose not to pursue the a criminal investigation. nytimes.com/2021/03/03/us/…
We investigated Chao's extensive conflicts of interest — and we uncovered records showing, among other things, a private photo session at the transportation department headquarters with employees of Chao's family shipping business. americanoversight.org/elaine-chao-ca…
We also obtained and analyzed Chao's calendars and top aide's emails — revealing a pattern of special treatment for requests from Kentucky, which her husband, Sen. Mitch McConnell, represents. americanoversight.org/emails-reveal-…
Read 7 tweets
American Oversight Profile picture
3 Mar
Department of Homeland Security records show real-time reactions to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The records also include briefings from the days following the attack.
americanoversight.org/document/fps-c…
Earlier today, the @washingtonpost reported on these internal reports from DHS’s Federal Protective Service, which the Post also obtained via #FOIA. The records show FPS warned of potential violence the day before.
washingtonpost.com/national-secur…
We also received DHS communications via #FOIA that show how FPS officials reacted to the attack. The emails include photographs and real-time updates.
Read 4 tweets
American Oversight Profile picture
3 Mar
For many Americans, March marks a full year since the Covid-19 pandemic upended daily life.

Over the past year, we’ve submitted 1,000+ records requests to investigate government response to the pandemic. Here’s a timeline of our efforts:
americanoversight.org/one-year-of-co…
March 2020: We received records from Illinois and Washington state that showed the frustration and confusion of state officials regarding the White House’s poor coordination in March 2020.
americanoversight.org/weve-all-given…
We received records that provide more information about how the Bureau of Prisons missed key early opportunities to mitigate Covid-19’s spread within its facilities a year ago.
americanoversight.org/bureau-of-pris…
Read 10 tweets

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