Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project Files FOIA Courtsuit for Key DOJ and NARA Documents

The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project is suing both the Department of Justice and NARA for refusing to expedite the Heritage Foundation’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), request for copy of communication at the heart of the FBI’s Aug. 8 raid on the Mar-a-Lago estate of former President Donald Trump.

The government refused to provide copies of two FOIA requests from the Oversight Project. DOJ requested copies of communications between DOJ employees and any entities other than the government. This included communication with news media. NARA requested copies of any communications between the agency and Biden White House and FBI.

The Oversight Project’s request for the expedited handling, which is provided under certain circumstances by the FOIA, was based on the intense public interest that exploded as soon as news broke of the raid involving more than 30 FBI agents lasting more than 11 hours and resulting in the removal of thousands of documents from the estate.

FBI agents searched the closet of Melania Trump, former First Lady, during the raid. It was conducted because the DOJ believed that Trump had illegally stored highly classified, classified documents at his estate.

Agents also seized an estimated 11,000 non-classified documents and photographs. Agents also took a total of 103 files marked with different levels of classification. A photograph released by the FBI following the raid reportedly showed multiple folders bearing classification markings that were empty.

The Epoch Times has also reported that the search warrant that enabled the raid specified that agents could also seize information regarding the retrieval, storage, or transmission of national defense information or classified material; any government and/or presidential records created between Jan. 20, 2017, and Jan. 20, 2021; and any evidence “of the knowing alteration, destruction, or concealment of any government and/or Presidential Records, or of any documents with classification markings.”

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Mike Howell (Oversight Project Director) stated in an Statement released late September 2 that officials from the Biden administration as well as DOJ had been selectively leaked documents to favor media outlets who have supported coverage of the raid and its aftermath.

“Biden’s DOJ and FBI searched Mar-a-Lago in a dispute over a document. In the statement, Howell stated that they now have a dispute over a document with us. Let’s find out if the law has been applied equally, or if agencies continue to block our efforts and selectively leak information to liberal media outlets in order to advance the narrative. [Attorney General] Merrick Galrland and [President] Joe Biden both want .”

Howell has been involved in major oversight projects for Congress. He was an attorney on the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. A former top official of the Department of Homeland Security under Trump, where he handled congressional oversight requests.

” The DOJ conducts this investigation in a corrupt and overtly partisan manner. Their entire base for withholding information is discredited by the authorized leaks, selective disclosures, and other requests like ours. The communications that we seek are not exempt from ongoing investigations. “The American people have the right to receive these communications and the administration must give them back,” Howell said in the statement.

“Since Biden’s administration is torning the country’s fabric at the seams because of a document retention problem, let’s make it clear: communications from government officials and media must be kept safe and handed over to us. These leaks that occur outside of government systems aren’t returned to the government, are in violation of document retention laws. He stated that Americans are increasingly distrusting the Department of Justice because they have failed to turn these documents over.

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“It’s unfortunate that citizens have to take their government to court in order to get documents that belonged to them. Howell said that this is further evidence of a dual-tiered justice system in which the Washington Post and liberal media outlets have more rights than the average American outside the Beltway.

Congressional Correspondent

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Congressional correspondent for The Epoch Times.

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