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.”
So transparent
I exempted myself from paying taxes….
They are doing this because they are guilty of crimes against America and its allies
America isn’t it just the best system in the world where 1% of the population has free range enslaved an entire country where they pledge allegiance to the dollar of the divided states of America and to the corporations for which they stand one nation totally divided with inequality and injustice for all where law enforcement serves fines and protects corporations. Ignorance, Self-en$#%&!@*lement, Greed, Political Correctness and lack of Accountability are the cancers killing Society as we once new it. The truth is relative it depends on who’s truth is being told. The TRILLIONS the Pentagon misplaced and the BILLIONS that Bernie Madoff with Prove beyond a shadow of doubt that the really bad criminals wear ties and have jobs. THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD REGULATE CORPORATIONS AND PROTECT PEOPLE THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD FEAR THE PEOPLE. Rich people controlling the government is the same as pimps and drug dealers running churches. The hypocrisy of our democracy is idiocracy. Rich people worry about rich people problems. if you outlaw guns only outlaws will have guns. Stop listening to the media and follow the money and find the truths. the government is a tool that allows corporations and politicians enslave society. control the government then control the corporations that thrive from your free range slavery. first step is change the game and change the players, you can’t fix a problem with the same thinking and the same players that created it.
The guilty dog barks the loudest!
The beauty of the American experiment was the philosophy that no one was above or below the law.
It blows my mind that they blantely have different standards then the rest of the country and we’re all suppose to turn our heads like it’s not a problem. The worst part is 90 percent of ppl are too caught up in their lives to be aware or even understand what this means, and then when U go to make a comment about this obvious bull$#%&!@* u look like a conspiracy theorist for disagreeing with current events.
Oh what a tangled web we weave when we practice to deceive. That place has always been run be secret societies, Masons and demons.
America was never free. We just thought so. The statue of liberty is Babylon the Harlot. Washington Monument is a penis in erection. The mason number 13 for stripes and Lucifer’s 5 point plan to be like the most high from Isaiah 14 explains our flag. Just saying.
It is past time to Impeach the piece of c**p n the White House!