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.”
the king has spoken.
unfortunately we weren’t well inform about will the candidates stand on issues plus we didn’t do our homework plus we were blinded as a nation but we need the scales off our eyes and wake up
How can you exempt yourself from a Law?
B S. Expose obama for what he is…a imposter and a FRAUD
OF COURSE THEY WOULD, THAT WAY YOU CAN HIDE THINGS
The culture of corruption continues
more treason
You know I’ve been against impeachment not because I don’t hate this guy, but because he only ha a year and half left respectively. But he really needs the boot.
Michael Furphy ·
“Obama’s Acts of Treason:
1. Perpetrating acts of fraud, perjury and conspiracy in his refusal to confirm his lawful eligibility to serve as president under the U.S. Cons$#%&!@*ution Article II, Section 1, cons$#%&!@*uting impeachable offenses of high crimes and misdemeanors adumbrated in U.S. Cons$#%&!@*ution Article II, Section 4;
2. Surrendering sovereign U.S. war-making to foreign powers and international authorities by attacking Libya without consulting Congress, in violation of U.S. Cons$#%&!@*ution Article 1, Section 8 and U.S. Code $#%&!@*le 50, Chapter 33:1541-1548;
3. Accepting foreign $#%&!@*le and office while acting as U.S. President and without consulting Congress when in 2009, Obama $#%&!@*umed the Chairmanship of the UN Security Council, the international body responsible for declaring war on behalf of the UN, in violation of U.S. Cons$#%&!@*ution Article I, Section 9;
4. Making bribery attempts in word and in deed, as Obama administration offered bribes to at least three Federal candidates for office: Joe Sestak, Andrew Romanoff and Jim Matheson, in violation of U.S. Code $#%&!@*le 18, Section 201;
5. Defying a Federal Court Order by refusing to halt the uncons$#%&!@*utional implementation of the “Patient Healthcare and Affordable Care Act of 2010, popularly known as “ObamaCare”, in violation of U.S. Cons$#%&!@*ution Article II, Section 3, and Article III, Sections 1 & 2;
6. Defying a Federal Court Order by refusing to grant lawful deep water drilling permits, in violation of U.S. Cons$#%&!@*ution Article II, Section 3, and Article III, Sections 1 & 2;
7. Executive Branch creation and implementation of regulations $#%&!@*erting uncons$#%&!@*utional force of Federal law on matters explicitly rejected by or contrary to the will and intent of Congress, specifically the EPA implementation of Cap and Trade, in violation of U.S. Cons$#%&!@*ution Article I, Section 1 and Section 8;
8. Refusing to secure our broken borders from illegal alien invasion, international criminal incursion, and terrorist cadre penetration, in violation of U.S. Cons$#%&!@*ution, Article III, Section 3 and Article IV, Section 4;
9. Executive Branch malfeasance and impeding the administration of justice by preventing the U.S. Department of Justice from investigating crimes committed for the direct benefit of the President by presidential $#%&!@*ociates including: voter intimidation at the hands of the New Black Panthers and ACORN election fraud, in violation of U.S. Cons$#%&!@*ution Article II, Section 3, and U.S. Criminal Code Section 135, (Comp. St. § 10305);
10. Direct mobilizing and funding of mob violence, sedition and insurrection, as witnessed in Wisconsin, by the President’s own reelection campaign group Organizing for America, and including open statements of incitement to the insurrection by the President himself, in violation of U.S.Penal Code, Chapter 115, Section 2383;
11. Executive Branch usurpation of lawmaking powers voiding duly enacted legislation of Congress by improperly preventing the U.S. Department of Justice from defending established Federal law – specifically the Defense of Marriage Act, in violation of U.S. Cons$#%&!@*ution Article II, Section 3;
12. Adhering to the enemies of the United States, giving them aid and comfort, as witnessed by consorting with, supporting and installing to powerful Federal positions persons who in writing, word and deed have called for and promoted the overthrow of America’s cons$#%&!@*utionally guaranteed Republican form of government, and the overthrow of the United States Cons$#%&!@*ution; including but not limited to William Ayers, Bernadette Dohrn, C$#%&!@* Sunstein, John Holdren, Van Jones, Dalia Mogahed, Harold Koh, and Eric Holder, in violation of U.S. Cons$#%&!@*ution, Article III, Section IV and U.S. Penal Code, Section 2385.”
Thank an Obama voter for this lawlessness.