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Dec 16 • 12 tweets • 6 min read
We believe transparency is the first step to accountability.

Our public records litigation has exposed several instances of government agencies deleting records. Here’s what we’ve uncovered and how it’s led to better preservation practices.

#FoiaFriday Image
In court filings related to our #FOIA litigation, the Defense Department & the Army admitted they failed to preserve texts from Jan. 6, 2021, having “wiped” the phones of certain top officials. The texts were wiped AFTER we submitted FOIAs for them.
americanoversight.org/defense-depart… Image
The news had an immediate impact. In August, both DOD and DHS announced new policies to preserve information stored on mobile devices, and the deputy defense secretary instructed officials to preserve messages that may be federal records.
cnn.com/2022/08/04/pol…
In a memo, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks directed the department to conduct an internal assessment of its record-retention compliance.
defense.gov/News/Releases/…
Sen. Gary Peters, the chair of the Senate’s oversight committee, also wrote a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin asking why the records were deleted even after DOD received our FOIAs.
talkingpointsmemo.com/news/senate-co…
Our #FOIA litigation also uncovered troubling information about records retention practices at ICE. In 2017, ICE instructed Trump admin. personnel to wipe their cell phones when leaving their posts — a practice that occurred even after we had requested texts of top officials. Image
In September, a federal judge ruled that ICE must preserve the mobile devices of seven former Trump administration officials in the ongoing suit brought by American Oversight and @ACLU_Mass. We’re continuing to fight for these records and transparency.
americanoversight.org/ice-admits-to-…
In Wisconsin, our public records litigation revealed that the Office of Special Counsel, which conducted the state Assembly’s partisan review of the 2020 election, was routinely deleting documents it deemed “not of use to the investigation.”
documentcloud.org/documents/2167… Image
In April, a Wisconsin judge ordered OSC not to delete or destroy any record potentially responsive to our requests. The following month, another judge ordered the Assembly not to destroy documents from the early stages of the investigation.
In Maryland, the office of Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has reportedly conducted official business using Wickr, a messaging app that can be set to delete messages after a set period of time.
americanoversight.org/investigation/… Image
Earlier this year, we filed a suite of public records requests to investigate. In August, we asked Maryland's attorney general to take action to prevent records of state officials’ communications from being destroyed by auto-deleting messaging apps.
americanoversight.org/american-overs…
These are just some of the ways we’re fighting to improve government transparency and records retention practices. Explore all of our ongoing investigations here:
americanoversight.org/investigations

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More from @weareoversight

American Oversight Profile picture
Dec 14
The Texas attorney general’s office sought data on transgender Texans, reports the @washingtonpost.

The Post’s reporting cites documents we’ve obtained as part of our investigation of threats to transgender rights in Texas.
washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12…
In Feb., Texas Gov. Abbott ordered that the provision of gender-affirming care should be investigated as child abuse. Records we obtained show that within days the order sparked several investigations by the Texas Dept. of Family and Protective Services.
americanoversight.org/texas-child-we…
Texas DFPS leadership instructed staff not to communicate in writing about Abbott’s directive and staff were forbidden from sharing their opinions of the policy on social media, according to emails we obtained.
Read 4 tweets
American Oversight Profile picture
Dec 9
We obtained emails illustrating how election conspiracy theorists — including those who had been active in the Arizona “audit” — sought to export their politicized fraud-hunting to New Hampshire after the 2020 election. #FoiaFriday
americanoversight.org/in-the-documen…
In November 2020, lies about voter fraud descended on a local race for the state House in Windham, N.H. A recount that had been requested by the losing candidate confirmed the outcome of the election, but resulted in significantly different vote margins.
The discrepancy was revealed to be an anomaly, but it became the focus of “conspiracy theorists trying to sow doubt in the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election … despite a lack of evidence that the issue in Windham is in any way systemic.”
nhpr.org/nh-news/2021-0…
Read 10 tweets
American Oversight Profile picture
Dec 5
This week, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Moore v. Harper, a case that raises the fringe “independent state legislature” theory, which could give state legislatures substantially unchecked power to control federal elections. We’ve been investigating.
Moore v. Harper centers on congressional district maps in North Carolina.

In the case, state lawmakers argue that state legislatures have the power to decide how congressional elections are conducted without any input from state courts or constitutions.
This is an especially concerning possibility as some state lawmakers continue to challenge the results of the 2020 election and push measures that would make it easier to overturn election results.
Read 4 tweets
American Oversight Profile picture
Dec 2
This year we used public records requests and litigation to investigate abuses of power and threats to our democracy. Here are our “greatest hits” of the year. #FOIA ImageImage
Transparency By the Numbers: So far this year we have received 1,736 productions of records, totaling 750,359 pages of documents. Image
The Plot to Overturn the Election: We obtained the fake electoral certificates submitted to Congress by Trump supporters in seven states as part of the failed attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Image
Read 8 tweets
American Oversight Profile picture
Dec 2
Earlier this year, Gov. Abbott directed Texas officials to investigate cases of minors receiving gender-affirming medical care as child abuse.

We’ve uncovered records that shed light on the implementation and impact of the directive. #FoiaFriday THREAD 1/ Image
Emails we obtained show Texas Dept. of Family & Protective Services leaders told staff not to communicate in writing about Gov. Abbott’s directive or the investigations, and that many staffers were concerned about the policy. 2/
americanoversight.org/texas-child-we… Image
“​​If you get any intakes regarding this issue, please immediately CALL ME to staff; no emails or texts are allowed,” a supervisor with Child Protective Investigations wrote in a February email. 3/ Image
Read 8 tweets
American Oversight Profile picture
Dec 1
NEW DOCS: We obtained records of Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan’s texts with Trump-allied election deniers. The texts provide more insight into how Arizona election “audit” leaders worked to sow distrust in democracy.
americanoversight.org/cyber-ninjas-c…
In June 2021, a representative of “audit” funder the America Project asked Logan about technical details that could inform “a future audit” in Pennsylvania.
documentcloud.org/documents/2332… Todd: Has anybody cloned and Ess server yet that you know? D
Logan also appears to have texted with a prominent election denier who asked if “after the count, the ballots are all checked for legality,” and “What about the illegals, out of state residents, gays voting?” Logan replied, “Hoping to kick that off soon.”
documentcloud.org/documents/2332… Doug Logan: That is the point of the paper examination Seth:
Read 7 tweets

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