The White House is removing a federal regulation that subjects Office of Administration, which is in charge of archiving emails, to the Freedom of Information Act, claiming that court rulings find its office is not subject to the transparency law.
This comes on the heels of Hillary Clinton’s scandal where she stored years of state emails on her private server.
The exemption of the Office of Administration from the FOIA is listed in the Federal Register as a final rule, meaning that there will be no opportunity for public comment.
The timing of this removal brought some questions to the transparency advocates because it was on National Freedom of Information Day and during the debate over the preservation of Obama administration records. And it’s Sunshine Week, a week where news organization and watchdog groups bring issues of government transparency to the forefront.Anne Weismann of the liberal Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said:
“The irony of this being Sunshine Week is not lost on me.”
For 30 years, the Office of Administration has responded to FOIA requests. Until the Obama administration, groups on the left and right used the records to shed light on how the White House works.
“This is an office that operated under the FOIA for 30 years, and when it became politically inconvenient, they decided they weren’t subject to the Freedom of Information Act any more.” Tom Fitton from Judicial said.
CREW sued over e-mails that were deleted by the White House.
A federal appeals court in Washington ruled that the Office of Administration was not subject to the FOIA in 2009.
The appeals court ruled the White House would be required to archive the e-mails and not release them to the FOIA. Now the White House e-mails must be released under the Presidential Records Act, that will be five years after the end of the administration.
The rule change makes it so there will not be a formal process for the public to request the White House voluntarily disclose records. These records include the White House visitor logs.
The White House didn’t say why it waited almost six years to acknowledge the court ruling of regulations.
Brandi Hoffine, a White House spokeswoman says that the administration remains committed to work towards unprecedented openness in government. She stated:
“Over the past six years, federal agencies have gone to great efforts to make government more transparent and more accessible than ever, including by making information available to the public via our Open Government initiative and improving the FOIA process.”
Rick Blum, coordinator of the Sunshine in Government initiative for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press was not happy with ruling. He says the bigger issue is the that the Office of Administration is responsible for record-keeping. With the Clinton e-mail controversy, there should be more scrutiny of the record-keeping practices he thought.
“I think what we’ve all learned in the last few weeks is the person who creates a record–whether it’s running a program or writing an e-mail–is the one who gets to decide whether it’s an official record,” Blum said. “And there ought to be another set of eyes on that. That’s the essential problem.”
Now what’s this joker hiding or trying to protect a certain woman running for president
TREASON
“IT WAS YOU, OBAMA who spoke these words at an Islamic dinner – “I am one of you.” IT WAS YOU, OBAMA who on ABC News referenced – “My Muslim faith.” IT WAS YOU, OBAMA who gave $100 million in U.S. taxpayer funds to re-build foreign mosques. IT WAS YOU, OBAMA who wrote that in the event of a conflict -“I will stand with the Muslims.” IT WAS YOU, OBAMA who assured the Egyptian Foreign Minister that – “I am a Muslim.” IT WAS YOU, OBAMA who bowed in submission before the Saudi King. IT WAS YOU, OBAMA who sat for 20 years in a Liberation Theology Church condemning Christianity and professing Marxism. IT WAS YOU, OBAMA who exempted Muslims from penalties under Obamacare that the rest of us have to pay. IT WAS YOU, OBAMA who purposefully omitted – “endowed by our Creator” – from your recitation of The Declaration Of Independence. IT WAS YOU, OBAMA who mocked the Bible and Jesus Christ’s Sermon On The Mount while repeatedly referring to the ‘HOLY’ Quran. IT WAS YOU, OBAMA who traveled the Islamic world denigrating the United States Of America. IT WAS YOU, OBAMA who instantly threw the support of your administration behind the building of the Ground Zero Victory mosque….
it’s transparent all right….they are CLEARLY fucking the American public….
That’s it! Now is the time to drag them out into the street by their feet and deal with all the mu$lim traitors in our government!!!
he gets his way
WTF
Of course they did. The more these things happen, the more likely Trump will win. Go Trump.
Oh$#%&!@*off you crooked fuckers
Same old bull sh!t !
Who’d have thought it?