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.”
Come on now, anyone surprised??? REALLY ???
It doesn’t take a lot of troops to hold down a large area today. Like it did a couple of decades ago. With the fire power the government has and trained troops a couple of thousand troops can take over rather fast on unsuspecting people!! Oblammer has taken out most of our military leaders that would oppose him. Put in his Muslim brotherhood friends and breaking every law he can get away with! For those who are ready to stand against Oblammer stand tall and ready your troops!! Minute Men prepare to fight! Oath Keepers young and old remember the Oath stand ready at the gate! Rebels on point!
Death be not proud though some have call thee!
Locked and loaded!! Birds fly high! Moles dig deep! Dogs bark loud. Owls watch close! Knight to Kings pawn. Listen and you shall hear! Lights on are they home! Keys to the door are in place. Move on site at beginning of time!
Amen! Prayers to all who know!
More disgusting arrogance from obama!
Because of the Obama administration.
Unlawful action. Arrest Obama and all who support him.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME????
Technically…they can’t !!!! But if no one in congress stands up to “him”…he will get away with it…just like he did with his school records and his birth certificate !!!!!
America needs to realize the fact, that we have a Adolf $#%&!@* in power in our country today, if the citizens the military and law enforcement do not act ! To remove these people from power, WE are Sentencing our Children and Grandchildren to Death !, We are all Responsible for Our Future No One Gets a Free P$#%&!@*, If We do not Participate in Our Future Someone Else will Design it for US, and we will not be included in the process, like exactly what’s going on today.
If We want to be part of the Future, We better be part of the Now ! This president and his administration must be Stopped at all cost, or We Will Cease to Exist as a Nation, this is America’$#%&!@*ler, have we not Learned anything from the Past, have we not Learned anything from History !
Bill Sharpe
Does anybody understand that The White House and all of Washington D.C. is not part of the United States? Until they become part of this country, It’s no different then the Vatican. An Illuminati Dictatorship controlling people with fear..
According to my law (the Cons$#%&!@*ution) they can’t exempt themselves.