Jason Leopold Profile picture
Feb 12 10 tweets 2 min read
🧵I'd like to separate the content revealed in this disclosure and explain why this news from the Mueller is important because I think there is a fundamental misunderstanding about the work I do on the #FOIA front
With @mvtopic, we challenged a slew of redactions in the Mueller report starting in 2019 ago and a federal judge twice ruled that DOJ had violated the FOIA by improperly invoking an exemption and ordered the material released
We also challenged DOJ's use of privacy exemptions that protected the identities of some people Mueller didn't charge, arguing that their privacy rights were diminished b/c of prior govt disclosures. The district judge ruled in favor of the govt & we appealed to the DC Circuit
Last Nov, the DC Circuit granted us a partial victory stating in its opinion: “BuzzFeed has identified a significant public interest and demonstrated how disclosure will advance that interest."
While the content of these newly unredacted passages from the Mueller report may be old news and may infuriate some members of the public who question my motivation govt secrcy never gets old and it is crucial to aggressively fight it no. That's what I do.
These victories help pave the way for historians, journalists and members of the public win their own battles when govt agencies try to make the same arguments to keep similar info secret
I'm not embarrassed for continuing to wage this battle because it happens to relate to Mueller and his investigation. I'm ecstatic I went to war against the govt and won. This info never should have been redacted.
I've fought for and won the release of all kinds of records on a wide range of subjects. Some days people love me, other days they hate me. I'll continue to battle govt secrecy even if the content I'm fighting for doesn't agree with your agenda
*from the Mueller report*
*no* should not be in that tweet above. Typed too fast

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More from @JasonLeopold

Feb 11
🚨BREAKING: @BuzzFeedNews & I just got more passages unredacted from Mueller report

It reveals for 1st time that Mueller declined to charge Donald Trump Jr with a computer crime for accessing a website using a PW he got from Wikileaks & Stone for hacking
buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonl…
These new unredacted passages follows our lengthy legal battle against the Justice Department and our partial victory at the DC Circuit to unmask the identities of some people Mueller declined to charge.

Thank you to @mvtopic & his team for fighting this historic battle.
🚨Mueller's office also considered charging JD Gordon, the Trump campaign's director of national security
Read 5 tweets
Jan 25
BREAKING: Treasury Dept whistleblower Natalie May Edwards, our source whose brave disclosures exposed financial corruption on a global scale & formed the basis of our award-winning #FinCENFiles investigation, has just been released from federal prison
buzzfeed.com/anthonycormier…
May Edwards just told @a_cormier_, minutes after she was released from prison: “This chapter is officially closed. I will not be silenced anymore. My story will be told.”
buzzfeed.com/anthonycormier…
May (@3_Whistleblower)
served nearly five of her 6 month sentence.

Her sentence was unjust and unfair. Her disclosures have sparked AML reforms in the US and around the world.

I spoke with her a little while ago. I'm so relieved she's been released and is now with her family.
Read 5 tweets
Jan 5
NEW: @BuzzFeedNews & I sued the govt under #FOIA for docs about it's sale of Wu-Tang Clan's Once Upon a Time in Shaolin. We obtained amazing new pics of it, bill of sale, purchase agreement & more. But govt claims sale price of album is a trade secret!
buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonl…
Thanks to our #FOIA atty @jloevy for working to get these Wu-Tang docs released on our behalf!
According to a copy of the five-page purchase agreement, the album was sealed with “tamper-proof evidence tape” and delivered to the new owners “in that state.”
Read 6 tweets
Dec 27, 2021
This year, the US government continued to try and stonewall my attempts to pry loose documents via #FOIA. So @BuzzFeedNews & I filed dozens of public records lawsuits against recalcitrant agencies. We prevailed and we broke news.

Here's some of my greatest hits.

1/
January: These Emails Reveal The Drama Behind The GSA’s Decision Not To Certify Biden’s Win

2/

buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonl…
January: Another batch of documents from my long running quest to liberate all the documents from the Mueller investigation.

The FBI Just Released Its Secret Interviews With Michael Flynn

3/

buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonl…
Read 20 tweets
Dec 15, 2021
NARA just released a trove of JFK assassination records

archives.gov/research/jfk/r…
The release of these JFK assassination records is in response to a memo Biden issued in Oct, which also allowed agencies to postpone the release of other docs "to protect against identifiable harm to the military defense, intelligence operations," etc

whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/…
Image
Read 4 tweets
Dec 13, 2021
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
Read 12 tweets

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