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Jason Leopold Profile picture
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13 Dec, 12 tweets, 7 min read
NEW/SCOOP: Docs I obtained via #FOIA showed Trump appointee Michael Caputo warned govt employees last year not to speak with the media during COVID-19

@GovAcctProj & @OpenTheGov demanded an investigation

OSC just found HHS violated the law buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonl…
These are some of Michael Caputo's emails I obtained via #FOIA that led HHS to take corrective action after OSC investigated.
On Nov. 15, Timothy Cheng, an attorney in OSC's investigation and prosecution division, sent a letter to @OpenTheGov & @GovAcctProj confirming that HHS violated the law
The HHS asst secretary of public affairs playbook was obtained by @GovAcctProj & @OpenTheGov via #FOIA. The groups said in its complaint to OSC that the playbook and Caputo's directives violated the anti-gag provision in the 2012 federal Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act
OSC also probed actions taken by Caputo's controversial science adviser, Paul Alexander. He tried to pressure CDC officials into suppressing and editing the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report calling it a "hit piece" on the Trump admin and an attempt to lock down schools
But OSC said Alexander’s efforts never came to fruition. Nor did HHS implement "any other nondisclosure policies by Mr. Caputo or Dr. Alexander," OSC said.
"Within 6 weeks of Dr. Alexander’s request to stop the reports, Mr. Caputo and Dr. Alexander left HHS," OSC wrote in the letter closing out it's investigation.
Caputo’s tenure at HHS was brief. He worked there from April 2020 through Sept 2020. He left a couple of days after he posted a video on his FB page accusing CDC scientists of “sedition”
& being part of a “resistance unit” that was plotting against Trump. Alexander left then too
Story now updated with this response from Michael Caputo to OSC's investigation.
And here are all of Michael Caputo's emails I obtained via #FOIA

beta.documentcloud.org/documents/2046…
Thread and statements by @GovAcctProj & @OpenTheGov regarding HHS unlawful gag orders & the OSC's investigation that followed. The groups filed a formal complaint to OSC after they and I obtained documents via #FOIA about this issue.
This is the letter an OSC attorney sent @GovAcctProj & @OpenTheGov following it's investigation

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More from @JasonLeopold

Jason Leopold Profile picture
3 Dec
THREAD: Some background on how this story @a_cormier_ and I reported came together, which is also a story about #FOIA

1/
I have been reporting on CIA on and off for more than 15 yrs. But everything the agency does is considered classified at some level. So obtaining info about an operation or a program or what's taking place behind the scenes at the agency means relying on anonymous sources

2/
The best way to keep a check on intel agencies like CIA & to learn about what's going on inside the agency is by requesting via FOIA inspector general reports from closed investigations

That's what I did. I first requested copies of reports from closed investigations in 2012

3/
Read 10 tweets
Jason Leopold Profile picture
1 Dec
ALSO: I obtained hundreds of other CIA IG via #FOIA & I'm sharing them all here. More than 3K pages covering a wide range of investigations such as an employee who used government computer systems to resell more than 700 items purchased at yard sales.
documentcloud.org/documents/2111…
More recent reports show that a CIA employee was investigated in October 2018 for using agency computer systems and databases to conduct “unofficial searches” on her brother, and that the IG substantiated allegations that year that another CIA employee violated the Hatch Act
In the Hatch Act case, the CIA IG found the employee used their work computer to make donations to political campaigns

CIA worked w/the Office of Special Counsel. But OSC opted not to punish the employee

Here's where it gets meta: I FOIA'd OSC for docs abt it & they GLOMAR'd me
Read 6 tweets
Jason Leopold Profile picture
1 Dec
NEW from @a_cormier_ & me: CIA Docs Say Staff Committed Sex Crimes Involving Children. They Weren’t Prosecuted

Declassified CIA IG reports show a pattern of abuse & a repeated decision by federal prosecutors not to hold agency personnel accountable #FOIA
buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonl…
I have spent a decade, literally, collecting hundreds of IG reports from the CIA via #FOIA. I've filed 13 requests and sued the agency 3 times since 2012. When @a_cormier_ & I started to review these docs earlier this year we spotted a disturbing pattern
buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonl…
Only one of the individuals cited in these documents was charged with a crime. In that case, as in the only previously known case of a CIA staffer being charged with child sexual crimes, the employee was also under investigation for mishandling classified material.
Read 9 tweets
Jason Leopold Profile picture
30 Nov
BREAKING: @BuzzFeedNews and I won our appeal before the DC Circuit to further unredact the Mueller report, specifically passages pertaining to Donald Trump, Jr. et al.

This is a massive win and it's all thanks to the expert legal arguments by our attorney @mvtopic
Here's the link to the full 18 page DC Circuit opinion. Just a huge win for transparency and the public's right to know.
documentcloud.org/documents/2111…
I'm VERY proud of this. From the appeals court opinion: “BuzzFeed has identified a significant public interest and demonstrated how disclosure will advance that interest.” #FOIA
Read 7 tweets
Jason Leopold Profile picture
19 Nov
NEW from @ZoeTillman and me. We obtained more than 100 pages of docs via #FOIA from DOJ about the lead up and response to Jan. 6.

One email shows 3 top DOJ officials were told there were “no credible threats” hours before the capitol riot buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
On Jan 5, FBI's Norfolk field office disseminated this report stating it obtained credible info about the potential for violence the next day. The report was covered by WaPo on Jan 12 but it has not been released before (at least in redacted form) buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil… ImageImageImageImage
These are the Jan. 6 call logs from acting deputy attorney general Richard Donoghue and acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen included in the cache of docs we obtained via #FOIA ImageImage
Read 4 tweets
Jason Leopold Profile picture
15 Nov
So FOIAonline went down for maintenance over the weekend and now when I try to sign in it says my account doesn't exist. Well played.
Assuming this is not some random incident number, seems like there are bigger problems Image
Well, the bad news is... Image
Read 4 tweets

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