Investigative Reporter @business. 'FOIA terrorist.' Band Tshirt hoarder. Subscribe to my newsletter FOIA Files. Signal 213-270-4334. jasonleopold@protonmail.com
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When investigators were closing in on Epstein, he thought about saying sorry. Merrie Spaeth, a sought-after crisis strategist who once served as the director of media relations for Ronald Reagan’s White House, helped him pick his words.
Maxwell has maintained she was kept in the dark about details of Epstein's initial sexual abuse case in the mid-2000s. Yet the emails demonstrate her deep knowledge of the legal jeopardy he faced and show how she helped him strategize over even the most consequential details.
Earlier this week, I reported on DOGE’s takeover of the CFPB. One of the standout documents I reviewed was an “Assignment Agreement,” or a memorandum of understanding between DOGE and CFPB that bears the seal of the Executive Office of the President.
Lawmakers tucked language inside a 2016 intelligence spending bill that tasked ODNI with preparing a classified intelligence assessment for the committees. Specifically, it was to be about “the use of political assassinations as a form of statecraft by the Russian Federation since January 1, 2000.”
After my former @BuzzFeedNews colleague @bri_sacks (a kickass reporter) broke the story in WaPo that 
It turns out the IRS took the extraordinary step of seeking a legal opinion on whether it was appropriate to add Trump's name to the checks. 
In February, I filed a #FOIA request with the agency’s internal watchdog – the Office of Inspector General – for all of its final reports on closed investigations in 2023 and 2024. That’s generally a pretty good way to find out if there's been any accountability for wrongdoing related to an agency's work.
The docs show that a “large denomination platinum coin” was indeed discussed at the highest levels of govt. But there’s a huge caveat. The records are pretty heavily redacted. Still, there's useful details to glean, many of which will be of interest to all you trillion dollar coin aficionados.
Long before the assassination attempt on Trump on Saturday, I spent years using the #FOIA to look into the way the Secret Service responded to threats against all of its protectees & political violence in general.
Portions of Zwonitzer’s testimony were briefly mentioned in Hur’s final report, but the transcript fleshes out the narrative of how he ended up entangled in the high-profile investigation and reveals what he told Hur's team 
The details around the bank activity have been widely reported, but many of the underlying financial documents haven’t surfaced. And since cameras aren’t allowed in the courtroom, the public largely hasn’t seen the evidence at the center of the trial